Foreigners Don't Know Anything
by idkwhattonamemyselfwth
Summary: A runaway girl who travels different countries on her own comes across Takao and winds up becoming friends with the GOM and Friends after they find out she's homeless and she stays with Takao and his family. Japanese lessons and shopping trips weren't what she was expecting but it's what she's getting here in Japan. Some romance probably, comment please/first story.
1. Chapter 1: Meeting The Gang

I've _obviously_ never written ff before so please give me tips or something if you have any. Thanks ^-^

* * *

Summary:

A Russian/Irish-American girl that ran away from home years ago, travels to different countries to not be held back by her family. After she decides to go to Japan, since she grew bored with Korea, she meets Takao and Midorima on a basketball court and ends up staying in their lives for a while longer. The problem is, she doesn't even speak Japanese yet.

I know it sounds bad probably but like I said this is my first story so if you can offer and advice or anything I'd appreciate it. Please and thank you.

Chapter 1. Meeting the Gang

* * *

This sucks. At least in S. Korea I spoke the language... at least in Korea I could _read_ the language. What made me think leaving for Japan was a good idea? Oh yeah. These things I have called curiosity and naivety combined to form a childish idea, one that somehow convinced me that it would be super fun. I feel really guilty, too. When I left my family I said I was going to Korea and they still think I'm there, I bet. For a runaway, I really hate lying. Even though it wasn't a lie... I don't know. All I do know is, I once cried because I sat on a bed with a boy at a friend's house to watch TV with everyone, and I didn't ask my mother if that was okay. I was like 11 and there were 3 other people in that room but I felt really dirty for some reason. What a nerd.

Anyway, this was a terrible idea. So terrible that my dumb brain is actually finding it exciting. I wish I wasn't like this but honestly, if something good came out of this little "trip" it would be awesome and that thought has me looking forward to living on new streets. I register in my mind that this is dangerous, and yet I'm still somehow excited about everything I see.

I also have a strategy for this. Really I do. You see, I am a 16 year old girl with bright green eyes, and I'm obviously not Japanese. This is very dangerous, I mean I'm sure it'd be worse if I were blonde. In every country there are creepy guys that think foreign girls are cute. And I live alone, and I also technically don't _live_ anywhere. The point is, this is very dangerous, SO, I have a strategy for survival.

I live in a city where more foreigners live, I stay around schools because that looks way less suspicious, I also may or may not have stolen a girl's uniform. Or several. Really I just look like some trouble-making exchange student that skips class every day to people that see me walking around. I steal food, I sleep in different places depending on the weather that night, and I shower in the school. You just have to know how to get in there and it's not as hard as it may seem at first.

I got this.

But only if no one ever sees me, at least not more than once. Better yet, it doesn't matter how many people glance at me, just so long as no one ever actually pays attention to me. That'd be a problem. Yeah that's what I meant.

And that's where my main problem is. There's this one guy, he's seen me three times now, and he's actually payed attention to me two of those three times. He saw me and then looked away the first time, but then the second time he saw me he waved. That's when I was coming out of the girls' locker room. He waved his right hand and had an excited and friendly smile on his handsome face. He honestly seems really fun but I can't afford to try to be his friend. I'll either be humiliated or killed. Not in the mood for either right now. I'll let you know later, though. Anyway, I waved back and blushed, not my fault by the way, and put my head down, leaving as quickly as I could.

Then there's the third time. The reason I haven't had a shower in a month. It may not seem like much but, before I had been showering every 2 days. It's annoying going from that so quickly. This third time ruined me. And I'm only being a little over-dramatic this time. I was walking from the shower when the same black haired boy from the two times before came into the gym. I immediately ran back to the locker room, since I didn't think I'd make it out the gym door without him noticing me. But with my fantastic luck, I did something only I would actually manage to do. I ran into the door. Me. The girl that's able to keep hidden from the world if she wants, who likes to think she could have assassin-level stealth skills, ran into the door to the girls' locker room. Because that's exactly what you should do when trying to remain hidden. Run into something. Loudly. And bust your nose. Yeah and my nose started bleeding.

Now I've only had a nose bleed one other time in my life, and coincidentally, it was also because of a door. But that time someone hit me with it and I could blame them. This time I couldn't blame anyone else because it truly is entirely my fault. I hate everything.

This guy, this friendly asshat, literally _ran_ to check on me. How dare he. Okay, yeah that's super nice, but like... not very convenient to me in the moment. So naturally when I saw a kind person coming to my aid, I screamed and ran... into him. Because I'm a genius. Why did I run that way? I don't know, I could have sworn I was running the other way honestly, but apparently I wasn't. And I hit my head on his chest, which was surprisingly hard, not in some attractive "ooh he must be so muscular" way but more like in a "is he wearing fucking armor I think I literally just gave myself a concussion" type of way. And he laughed. He laughed. When I ran into him. And got blood on his shirt by the way. That makes me want to be his best friend and cry at the same time. So I laughed, too, very awkwardly, and then I ran away, in the right direction this time, when he asked me if I was okay. At least I'm assuming that's what he asked. Either that or he asked if I was crazy. Either way.

And I haven't gone back since. It's been a month. I smell bad. Help.

* * *

Which brings us to now, I was walking down the street looking for somewhere to sleep, I saw it might be cold again tonight so it's best to look for a window easy to open so maybe I can crawl in there, you know. While I was walking I heard people playing basketball and walked closer to watch. I guess the boredom overtook me and I _did_ want somewhere to sit, so I decided to go and watch.

Coming up to the court I saw a group of teenage boys, all way taller than me, playing a pretty rough and interesting game. I walked over to the bleachers as stealthily as I could, which isn't that stealthy for someone that needs to stay hidden, but my faults aren't the focus right now. The game is actually pretty interesting. One player in particular.

It was a serious looking green haired guy. I mean he was handsome but that's not what was making me watch him.. he isn't missing a single shot. Is that normal? I mean, maybe he's just having a good day today, but the longer I watch, the more amazing it becomes. What kind of superpowered player is he? The creepy 13 year old weebs from my old school would love to know that Japanese men really do have superpowers. I can't even make it 1/10 when I throw trash away from more than 2 feet away from the can. Not fair.

Oops. Did the game seriously end when I was thinking? How do I manage- crap they're coming this way.

I need to decide ASAP what to do. I mean, if I just stay put and hoped no one sees me, then someone will definitely see me. That's my luck. They'll think I'm some creep or something, then again I was watching sweaty men run around and yell at each other from behind bleachers so maybe they'd be right. I mean it wasn't like that! But like, who would believe that? But then if I ran, I'd still look like a creep, a cowardly creep. But they'd never catch me. Not that they'd try anyway. But my pride... it's getting in the way, running away seems more embarrassing than being caught right now.

* * *

I was wrong. Very wrong. The same kid that saw me at the school, the pretty black haired one, saw me here, too. Awesome.

"Hey! It's the cute exchange student I told you about!" Takao shouted.

"Huh... so you weren't lying." Midorima mused.

The black haired one walked closer to me and beamed down at me.

"You're not stalking me are you?" he laughed.

The green haired one slapped him on the arm and rolled his eyes. _What'd he say?_

"She might not even speak Japanese, fool. Look at her, she's clearly confused." Midorima sighed.

Black-hair looked down at me with his eyebrows furrowed before his face went back to his grin.

"Do you speak Japanese?" he asked.

I cocked my head to the side and squinted at him.

Midorima sighed and pushed up his glasses. "I told you she probably didn't speak Japanese."

"Hmm.. I know! I'll use my phone!" Takao exclaimed.

"Oh God..." I mumbled. He's really not gonna leave me alone. Maybe if I just start to walk away, he'll let me leave.

I turned to walk away and made it two steps before the happy one called after me... I repeat. I made it two steps. And he shouted for me.

I turned around and glared with my hands up to my ears. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "My bad." he says. He holds out his phone to me and waits for me to take it with that smile never leaving his face. He doesn't want my number does he? Oh God. I shake my head 'no' and turn to leave again but he puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me. Crap! Maybe if I just give him a fake number... would he text or call it right on the spot to make sure? Some guys do that.

I hesitantly take the phone and stare down at it, unsure of what to do. Wait... is this a translator app or something? Huh. **Aww**. He's not a creep! Aww. Cute. What am I saying. He could still be a creep.

I held the phone in my hands and looked back up at him, he's still staring at me.

 _Sigh_. Okay fine.

I quickly typed into the translator a simple "I have to go." and hand it to him before turning to leave.

"Wait!" He shouted after me again. This time I made it four steps. Progress.

I turn back around and pout. He's being annoying now.

He takes me arm and smiles back at me, is he trying to make me more comfortable with the smile because it's not working that much at all. He sits down on the bleachers and pats the seat next to him before bringing his attention back to his green haired friend. The one with the super powers and the violent streak.

"Shin-chan, call all your miracle friends!"

"Why?" Midorima asks, clearly annoyed that his friend is holding him up.

"Maybe one of them can help!" Takao answers.

"She's not a puppy, she's probably just going on a walk. Maybe she has to eat dinner soon, she's not the only one."

Takao pouted and sighed dramatically.

"But Shin-chaaaan!"

"No."

Takao huffed.

"Fine. Just Momoi then. She's a girl and girls are good with girls."

Midorima, getting so annoyed he's ready to just leave Takao with the strange spying girl, sighs and opens his phone to call Momoi.

* * *

This sucks.

I'm now surrounded by men.. and one woman. And a dog? The black haired boy, whose name is Takao Kazunari, insisted I stay with him at the basketball court while he waited for some friends. The green haired one, Midorima Shintarou, left after he called some girl, who I'm assuming is the one in front of me now.

They're all staring down at me. Kazunari, the pink-haired girl, a tan blue-haired one, a red-headed one with entertaining eyebrows, a shorter blue-haired one, his dog, two really handsome guys, one blonde, one black-haired, and a giant purple one. It scares me that there's one girl but at least she seems to be able to keep them in check.

"So you just found her?" Himuro asked.

"And you're keeping her here. Not letting her leave even though she said she had to go." Kuroko continued.

" and you invited friends to come see her?" Momoi chimed in.

"Yeah.." Takao answered hesitantly.

Everyone deadpanned.

"What is she, your new stray puppy?!" Kagami yelled.

"Huh." Takao looked over with a thoughtful expression. "Well she is pretty adorable. Look at those round eyes, she easily could be a puppy!"

"That's not a good answer." Aomine complained.

"In my defense, I only wanted Momoi, you all just ended up coming with her."

"Aomine was with me and then I told Kuroko who was with Kagami and Kagami told Himuro who was with Mura." Momoi explained.

"What about you?" Takao asked Kise.

" Aomine told me something interesting was happening." Kise said.

There's an entire conversation happening, most likely about me, and I don't even know what they're saying. Or who they all are. Did they somehow forget I'm here? Is this a chance to run because it seems like it is with how distracted they are right now. But every couple sentences, they'll glance at me and even look me right in the eyes. Well dang it. I guess I'll just wait it out. What if they're trying to figure out where I'm from? I knew there'd be a downside to wearing a school uniform. They're probably wondering what class I'm in. What do I do if they ask? At least the puppy here is cute. I can use it as a distraction.

Almost as if it knows I'm thinking of it, the puppy runs forward and sits in front of me, wagging it's short little tail. I can't help but think it's adorable and crouch down on the ground to pet it.

"At least we know she's friendly" the tan one said. " She could still bite, though, we should be careful."

The pink haired girl gave him an aggravated look before stepping forward. She sat down by me and put her hand on my arm. I stopped and stayed stiff, I really didn't expect her to touch me like that. Why am I blushing? Now is not the time to question your sexuality Sasha. The girl took her hand off and held it up to show me she wouldn't hurt me and when I nodded, barely noticeable, she put it back on my arm.

"Where do you live? Host family? School?" the girl started saying random things that she thought I might recognize.

I just looked more confused and so the girl pointed at herself and said her name. "Momoi Satsuki." she said simply. Anything else might be too confusing. Oh yeah, I forgot to add particles one time, so she must know I don't speak even simple Japanese well.

"Momoi..san?" I asked, not completely sure.

Momoi excitedly nodded and almost squealed from joy. "Yeah, I'm Momoi-san. You?" she said slowly.

I slowly pointed at myself and raised an eyebrow at Momoi, making sure she was asking my name. I hate embarrassing things like this.

"..Mihaylov.. Sasha.." I said. If it's a western name do I still put the family name first? Oh well, they'll figure it out.

"She's Russian!" Kise shouted loudly, he was too excited about this. But then again, they all were staring pretty intently at the two of us.

I jumped back and the dog barked at Kise a couple times before turning back around and jumping onto me more.

I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud, it was just so cute. The guys looked a little surprised, probably because I had been pretty quiet. The tallest one with purple hair sighed and said something to the pretty black-haired one. He looks so frustrated about it. What a kid. The black haired one sighed and patted his arm.

"Murasakibara's bored. So I guess he wants to leave." Himuro said.

He bent down next to me and reached his hand out. Why do they do this? Am I a stray dog?

"I'm Himuro Tatsuya. That's Murasakibara Atsushi and Kagami Taiga." he pointed to two of the guys and himself.

"Himuro, Murasakibara, Kagome." I said, pointing to each.

"She gets Murasakibara but not Kagami?!"

I take Takao's hand and make a typing motion with my fingers. He smiles excitedly and hands me his phone.

[ Why is the red one so angry? ] I ask.

In my defense, I didn't think it'd say what I typed out loud like that.

"She got my name wrong!"

"She's going by memory, leave her alone!" Momoi's really funny. She shouts at them but she's clearly not really angry, just annoyed.

Kagami calmed down and nodded, he pointed at himself and said "Kagami-kun."

Oh...I'm realizing why he yelled, though he didn't look angry. "Oops." I couldn't remember how to say sorry.

"Oops?" Kagami said.

"Kagami-kun... oops?"

"Would you stop?"

"She can't understand!" Momoi shouted at him.

Momoi laughed and rubbed my arm. "It's fine." she said. She made a motion to call Kagami crazy and I laughed a little and nodded in understanding.

"Momoi-chii" Kise said. "Maybe one of us can take her home and use a translator!"

"Why is taking her home with you necessary?" Kuroko said.

"What are you implying about me Kuroko-chii?!" the blonde one cried.

I had no idea why they all looked like that but they looked a little annoyed. I wonder what happened.

Momoi pulls out her phone and opened a translate app. "Here." She handed it to me.

I was confused for a second but saw the screen and took the phone.

"You know we also could've handed her a phone to call a family member." Himuro said.

"Or called the cops." Kuroko said.

I saw the Russian setting and typed what I wanted. It translated roughly but they understood what I meant, those things never have been totally reliable but you can make a good guess.

"I have to go." it said.

I tried to leave but Momoi sat me back down, knowing that she wouldn't scare me much now. Momoi typed a response and translated it.

"Where? Do you need directions?"

Dang it. I shook my head and stood up again, this time Momoi didn't stop me.

"So you know where you're going?" she typed again and shoved it in my face. Why is she acting so worried?

I hesitated and nodded but I think it was obvious I was lying. I couldn't even look Momoi in the eye.

Momoi typed into the phone quickly again and showed it to me. I was shocked for a second but figured she didn't mean what it translated to so I asked her what she meant.

"What'd you say?" the tan one asked.

"I asked if she wanted to stay with me." Momoi answered simply.

"But you're staying at my house!" the tan one yelled.

"Yeah, so."

I typed into the phone and handed it to Momoi.

"I think you typed weird... it said you asked for me to stay at your house. That's not what you said is it?" it said.

Momoi giggled and took the phone back. I could feel my face get redder than Kagami's hair and tried to put my head down.

"Yes it is." she typed. "Do you want to? You're lost, we can tell."

This really embarrassed me, and made me angry at myself. How could I let someone see me as so weak after living like this for so long. I mean it's really only been a few months on the streets of Japan but still, I should be tougher. It's no Detroit but still...

"I didn't mean to look so vulnerable. I'm okay." I typed and handed the phone to Momoi.

Momoi giggled again, more from relief than anything else. She typed again.

"You don't look vulnerable, just lost. I don't doubt you could take care of yourself."

Well she knows what I want to hear. I was hesitant and waited a long time before answering. I slowly gave the phone to Momoi, with my head down and handing it to her with both hands.

"Okay. I'm sorry for this." it said.

Momoi laughed and waved her hand. She turned to the guys behind her and said, "She's staying at my place." Momoi said.

"You mean my house?!"

"Aomine, don't make me hit you!" Momoi shouted.


	2. Chapter 2: Momoi is a Goddess

Momoi is basically a goddess. So this is basically nothing and has barely anything in it, but I needed to get the night with Momoi out of the way anyway so here it is. This is the shortest chapter lol. It's not even 1,000 words. Sorry guys. Also thank you for telling me it was all weird code. I thought maybe it was an error on your idk whatever you were reading with, but I looked at it to be sure and it was all weird code lol. So I'm really sorry about that but I've fixed it, I think!

* * *

*Aomine's house*

Momoi didn't let go of my hand the entire walk and once we got inside, she pointed into rooms and walked a bit slower, but kept holding my hand. I didn't mind, it was kind of comforting actually. I smiled a little as Momoi led me to a room with a bed in it.

She pulled me over and patted the bed softly. When I looked hesitant, she pulled out her phone again and said "Sleep here."

I nodded slowly and sat on the edge. Momoi typed into the translator again.

"Bath is across the hall. I'm sleeping downstairs. Aomine sleeps naked, so be careful."

I laughed and blushed a little at the last part but nodded, but I felt like crying, Momoi had gone out of her way to make sure I was okay and that's more than anyone in my life ever had done. I don't think my own mother would do it for me in this situation, in fact, I know she wouldn't, my mother would never admit it, but she didn't like foreigners. She's better than my dad and she's not outright racist or discriminatory like he is, but she does have her prejudices.

As soon as Momoi was sure I was okay, she left the room for me to sleep. When the door shut, I couldn't hold in the tears anymore, I was so grateful. I wanted to cry and bow in front of her to show how thankful and happy I was, even though it was only for this night, or maybe even until I rested up. It didn't matter, she was so sweet, so kind, but she was tough, too. She yelled at that tan guy.. Aomine, she stood up for me, and then she took me home.

"I feel like a stray dog or something." I mumbled. "That's almost humiliating, but I can't be sad about it."

Only a few minutes later there was a knock on the door and Momoi peeked in. "Oh I'm sorry." she said before realizing I couldn't understand. I probably looked like I was about to pass out, the blankets pulled up and I was staring at the ceiling with my eyes drooping. Momoi showed me the food she had in her hands and handed it to me. It was steaming it was so hot, and it smelled amazing. I almost cried yet again right there. This time Momoi noticed and hugged me, loosely, so she wouldn't freak me out. Normally I would hate this, some stranger hugging me because I just look that needy, but I guess I wasn't awake enough to fight it or groan at her or anything.

I shed a few tears but was able to get it together, I breathed deeply a few times and bowed my head to Momoi. I stayed like that, with my head bowed and hands in my lap. Momoi...unnie." I mumbled.

Momoi looked up. "Korean?" she asked no one in particular.

I never looked up, I just stayed the same for a while. Momoi chuckled and laid me down on the bed. She took her coat off and pulled the blankets over her.

* * *

*3rd person POV switch*

Momoi walked downstairs smiling, carrying the food she had brought for Sasha and putting it in the fridge to give to her tomorrow.

Aomine looked at Momoi with an annoyed expression. "So are you sleeping on the couch for your new pet?"

"Ahomine." Momoi sighed as she walked to the couch and laid her blankets down. "It's not like it's a big deal. And don't call her my pet, that's rude."

"Well when you bring a little stray in and let it sleep in your bed, you start to look like a crazy cat lady."

Momoi gave Aomine an annoyed and angry look and hit him with a pillow. "Don't be an idiot."

Aomine rubbed his arm. "Ouch.. defensive much."

"Why are you being so annoying about this?"

"Well it's nice that you want to help her out, I wouldn't want to leave her alone there either, but I figured she could sleep at Kise's...or anyone else's besides mine."

"Don't be so selfish, she needed a place to stay and I think she'd be more comfortable with a girl. It just makes more sense."

"Except that this isn't the girl's house. By the way, that food you brought up there, did you cook that?" Aomine asked.

Momoi looked at him curiously. "No, it was a instant food. Why?"

"It's just... you cooking for her seems to be a good way to get her out."

Momoi hit him with the pillow again and kicked him off the couch.

"Ow!" Aomine yelled.

"She's sleeping." Momoi shushed.

"Fine, just next time you bring home a girl, make sure she's older and cuter. She can even sleep in my bed, I'll be that generous."

Cue Aomine running to his room while Momoi shouted at him from the couch. She really is scary when she's mad.

As Aomine walked to his room, he stopped by the guest room that Momoi had been staying in.

Aomine sighed and continued walking. "Trouble making little girls." he mumbled. "Couldn't we just call the cops?"


	3. Chapter 3: House Swapping

Chapter 3. House Swapping

* * *

I woke up early in the morning with the sunrise. The window in the room was facing the sun, so it was bright enough in the room already. I lied in the bed, savoring the moment before I would have to leave and probably not sleep in a bed again for a while. I stayed for a few more minutes before lazily climbing out of the bed and going to take a shower. I did have underwear in my bag but I left it at a park and I couldn't remember where it was. I'm smart like that.

A knock came at the door right when I was reaching it to go to the bathroom. Dang it... time to leave. I should've stayed up a little longer or showered while they slept or something. I opened the door and smiled shyly at the beautiful Momoi. She was a little shorter than me, but not much, and she was much prettier than me. Honestly I couldn't stop staring at her. Her face is just so proportional and plain but in a pretty way and her height isn't short or tall, she's busty as heck but that's the only thing that isn't perfect for everyone. Her face, height, everything is so perfect it could be seen as beautiful by all types, the only thing that not everyone would love is her body type and even then, she's still probably one of the most attractive people I've ever seen. Just perfect.. I'm getting creepy with this, aren't I. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. She's just so pretty I'm so jealous and she's like a statue I just can't deal with it. A stab to my self-esteem. Like a stab with a rusty nail or something.

She just smiled so happily at me and handed me some clothes. Those aren't mine? I guess she noticed how confused I looked because she got her phone out and typed something for me.

"They're for you. I think they'll fit you. The shirts my be a little big around the chest, and the pants might be a little tight, but they're sweatpants anyway so it won't be bad. Your body is like the opposite of mine :)"

She had a point. Where she lacked below the waist and had a big bust, I had a small chest, wide hips and a big butt. It's really annoying actually. Like I said, a stab to my self-esteem. The exact opposite of my body is the most beautiful woman I've seen... oh my gosh I've never felt to gay in my life. I swear I was straight yesterday... I think. I think I'm just jealous honestly. Like a little girl crush. No biggie. Her smile is pretty, too. Mine's a yellow crooked thing, never have I met such an ego booster.

"Thank you." I said in Japanese... I hope? It's arigoto right? Arigato? Ari something? I don't know.

I think I said it wrong because she giggled a bit at my 'thank you', and just said what I guessed was 'you're welcome' before handing me the clothes. She told me to take a shower and get dressed so she could take me to eat and then back home. I didn't know what to say to any of that, and I almost cried again.. dear God I need a chill pill... but then I got awkward when I realized she wanted to take me home. A house, hotel, something. Something I don't have here. But I don't have any real evidence of me living here in Japan. No address, no visa, I'm technically here illegally. Oops. At least in South Korea I had a Korean name that people could call me and write on things for me. I don't know if people have Japanese names when they come here... But I don't even speak a little Japanese and no one here is gonna name me like a pet.. well Momoi might just go that far.

I took my shower and tried to take as long as I could without making anyone come up here after me. When I walked downstairs there was the guy from yesterday, Aomine, and Momoi in the kitchen. He seemed to be trying to eat the food she was making because he kept getting something slapped out of his hand. And I did smell food. It didn't smell very good but it smelled like food at least a little.

He got slapped for the umpteenth time and turned around mumbling something grouchily, when he saw me he tapped her on the shoulder and pointed. Momoi looked back at me and the smile reappeared.

"Why do girls take such long showers?"

"Shutup."

Momoi almost slapped him with a spatula but changed her mind and put it away so she could fix a plate of food and bring it over to me.

"We're meeting friends to practice and then eating lunch, do you want to call someone and tell them we'll have you home after lunch?" she typed.

Aomine had been peering over her shoulder, not that it was hard for him, and he looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Why would she want to hang out while we play?" he asked Momoi.

"Well we can't cancel and I'm sure they'll want to meet her and see how she's doing." she answered.

"Why would they care? No they wouldn't. She'd get so bored, ask her." Aomine argued.

"I will." Momoi snapped with her nose up. She grabbed the phone again and typed into it.

"Do you like basketball?"

A simple question. I never really loved it, and I don't understand it completely, but it is fun to watch... so I guess..

"Kinda. I don't play, but I watch." I typed.

Momoi lit up upon reading it and looked back at Aomine smiling triumphantly. Aomine rolled his eyes and fixed himself a plate of food, Momoi behind him complaining about how much he was getting.

And that's how I ended up here.

I'm now at a basketball court surrounded by the same tall and scary guys from yesterday. The happy dark-haired one seems excited to meet me, which is a little scary and a little cute.

As if this wasn't embarrassing enough, Momoi had to get everyone's attention and introduce me herself, then introduce all of them. She gave me little notes on each through the translator. Kise models and has lots of fangirls, that explains the heartbroken face when I didn't know him. Midorima is obsessed with horoscopes, he won't like me I'm a Gemini. Aomine is a brat, that's all she gave me on him. Kuroko is apparently a total sweetheart and I think she might have a crush on him, his was the longest and I honestly can't remember it all. Actually they're dating maybe? I don't know. Takao seems like a sweetheart, his friendship with Midorima is adorable. They're fun to watch.

I got curious about Midorima's zodiac thing and asked Momoi what Takao's sign was. Midorima doesn't like Gemini's because they're so different from Cancer's, but Takao seems just as happy-go-lucky as Kise. I don't get it.

"Hm? Oh, um, Takao, what's your sign?" she asked.

"Scorpio, why?" he answered.

"Sasha wanted to know." she said.

I heard my name and looked up, Takao smiled at me, which only really embarrassed me, Momoi you weren't supposed to make him look at me.

"Hi." I said awkwardly, hopefully he understood it.

He laughed lightly, his laugh is so care free how adorable. Momoi is the perfect woman but I think Takao might be the perfect man. I should find a way to tell Aomine that, but I wonder if he'd embarrass me with it. I want to make fun of him not give him a reason to make fun of me. I don't think that'd work out for me..

"Hi!" he said back cheerfully.

"How are you?" I asked.

I stole Aomine's phone this morning when he was sick from Momoi's cooking and looked up how to say certain things in Japanese. My pronounciation is still probably off but I memorized the majority of some words.

"I stole Aomine's phone." I said. I also memorized the google translation thing of that. I was going to make it longer and explain why I did but by the time I thought of it, I was already tired and I knew I wouldn't be able to memorize the whole thing so I just got the first part of the sentence. Thinking about it now, I seem like a cleptostreet rat. And a foreigner. That doesn't speak Japanese.. at all. Dear God, I don't know if Momoi is just sweet or if she's stupid.

They looked like they didn't know what to say for a second so I held my finger up and ran over to Aomine.

"Phone." I said simply.

He looked confused but I guess he was caught up in the game and just pointed to his bag. Maybe he thought Momoi's died or something because he saw Momoi and Takao waiting on me.

"Don't read my texts!" he shouted. I can't understand you why are you yelling?

I grabbed his phone and ran back over to them and showed them the website I was on. It was just random "key phrases" in Japanese and they nodded. They both smiled at me and Momoi looked like some proud parent. Takao looked like he just found a puppy, the face he was making was hilarious, he looked so excited for some reason.

They're proud little looks made me happy, I guess I did well. I couldn't help but smile too with the looks on their faces, I am kinda proud of myself. But I didn't think about my smile.. dang it. I always hated my smile, I have bad teeth, they're all super yellow, there's this one crooked tooth in the front that makes me look like a 5-year-old. My eyes crinkle up and they practically close, even at a young age my eyes have wrinkles around them from the way I smile. My nose crinkles up, too, and it reminds me of an orc honestly. The kind from Lord of the Rings, they're noses pig-like and then wrinkled when they snarl.

Anyway, so yeah, I look like a mythical murderer when I smile or laugh because of all that and Takao and Momoi looked like they thought so too.. well they did. Until Takao practically squealed and shouted about how cute I was. Or that I was trying to be cute, honestly I only understood the word 'cute' so I didn't know exactly what he was saying but let's hope he's not saying "ew she's trying to be cute" or something.

I quickly typed into Aomine's phone and showed it to Takao.

"I can't tell if you're making fun of me or complimenting me." I said.

Takao laughed and typed in. "You look so cute when you smile." he said. "It's so innocent."

Okay I change my mind, I'd rather he have made fun of me. I could feel my face get red and he smiled again. What did he think this was cute, too? What's wrong with this kid? And I am not innocent. I'm very dangerous, I'm from the streets. Muy peligroso.

"Shin-chan! Come look!" Takao shouted.

Momoi saw my embarrassed face and waved her hands at Takao.

"I think you're making it worse, Takao." she said.

He saw my face and then noticed that I'm getting tense, dang it this always happens, like that time I almost had a panic attack when the person working at a store asked if I was okay when I lost my mom. Takao seemed to realize I was uncomfortable and not just a little shy and he backed off.

"Sorry." he chuckled, trying to make light of it, but I can tell he really felt bad about it.

I want to show him that I'm okay... Oh! Got it! I opened the translator on Aomine's phone again and typed into it, before showing it to Takao.

"It's a good thing Midorima ignored you, huh?" I said.

It takes them both a second to register that I joked with them and they both laughed, Takao louder than Momoi. He runs his hand through his hair and chuckles again. He was about to say something when Midorima yelled at him. Takao laughed and yelled something back at him, but he still turns around and says bye to us.

I'm already bored, it might've been awkward but at least it was still a conversation...sorta. Now I'm bored out of my mind. I could use this time to think of how I'm gonna get out going "home" with these people. They'll figure it out if I don't think of something. Maybe I could just take them to a random building and say I'm staying there. Hey, that's actually good. Great, now I'm bored again.

Uh oh, I think Momoi noticed. She's calling Murasakibara and Himuro over and now I have to think of what to say. I could ask 'How are you?' again, that seems impressive. If I didn't do it already.. what if I asked it in English? That Himuro is American, right? Okay that's good. What is it in English?... Where's Aomine's phone oh my gosh they're almost here.

"What is it?" Atsushi asks, while I'm hurrying to look up different phrases in English in another tab. Sorry Aomine, for the waste of your data.

I can't understand them, okay I've lost them in the conversation, perfect time to look busy on the phone. Ah hah! Found one, with pronunciation and everything, I'm so good. Wait, they're looking at me.

"How are you!" I yell in English. They're surprised and probably weirded out. "Oops." Why do I keep forgetting how to say sorry?

Momoi laughed and the other two didn't look annoyed but they weren't smiling either. Tetsuya looks like he's almost there, so that means he likes me, right? Right?

"Laughing awkwardly always helps." I typed.

This time he was definitely smiling. Definitely. A little pretty smile, too. I am so good. Yay. And a Momoi hysterical laugh but that's just gonna be ignored for now because it's kinda scary.

"Momoi, where's your boyfriend?" I typed.

Momoi looked confused at this. "Who?" she asked.

I can't understand you Momoi... but I think she doesn't know who I'm talking about.

"Kuroko?" I ask. That's his name, isn't it?

Momoi got excited at this and laughed again.

"Do you really think we make a cute couple?" she typed. I'm surprised she was able to type on it, she looked like she was about to burst or something.

I never said that?

"Momoi, I just thought he was your boyfriend. I never said you were cute together." I said.

She deflated like a balloon. I didn't say they weren't, I just said that I didn't say that they were.

"But you are, though. I just never said that is all.." I typed. God, I'm so bad at this.

But I guess it doesn't matter how bad you are, Momoi will be okay with it. Because as soon as she read that they were, she was happy and cute again. I think she forgot I don't speak Japanese because she just started going on some story I guess. I heard Kuroko's name... I heard love I think? I'm not sure though... I think she's talking about their relationship.

Himuro must've noticed my confused face because he's looking at me like he wants to save me it's kind of sad.

"Himuro-kun.. Mura..o?.. Murasakibara..kun." why the hell is his name so long. I'm so offended. Oh God what if I just offended him... I can think it but I can't say it out loud. Just redo it and pretend you never messed up.

"Himuro-kun and Murasakibara-kun," I just almost died. I almost messed up again but I didn't, congratulate me.

They both look over at me while Momoi is going on about her and Kuroko. I know for sure that's his name, now. Kuroko Tetsuya.

"What?" I said. Crap, I forgot how to say 'say'. I was gonna ask what she was saying and now I look stupid.

Himuro apparently didn't think so. "Momoi, she can't understand you." he said to her and then looked over at me again and reached out for Aomine's phone.

"She was just talking about how they met and when she fell in love with him. Nothing important." he said.

But that does sound kind of important. I really don't want her type all that out... but I don't wanna be mean either, she let me stay at her house.

Turns out Momoi did want to type all of it out for me to read. So her and Kuroko aren't dating but she thinks and/or wants them to be? He gave her a popsicle stick and now they're in love... it really shouldn't have taken as long as it did for her to tell me that. I think Momoi is really smart, though. Even while it seemed like she was distracted by me she would look up and yell something at the guys playing. She might just be a good multi-tasker. Either way, she's probably smarter than me.

By the time lunch came and Momoi rushed the guys to eat so they could take me home, I could probably beat a quiz about Kuroko from all she told me. And speaking of them taking me home, 1. I don't see why they all need to do that but she might be saying 'we' meaning her and Aomine or something, at least I hope so. And 2. I'm still not entirely sure if my plan will work but I'm gonna do it anyway. I'm sure I'll do okay. What are the chances of me accidentally choosing a hospital or something and saying I live there?

We ate at some cute little restaurant and of course, being the goddess she is, Momoi had to pay for my food. I didn't want to order a bunch since she way paying but I was so hungry I felt like ordering everything on the menu. I really doubt Momoi has enough money for that though... but I think someone else might be.

While we were walking here, Kise had been trying to talk to me a lot, at first I thought he was just attention-seeking, but he really seems like a nice guy. And he's a model so he must make a lot of money, right?

"Kise-chan... uh.. Kise-kun." Oops. As a joke he called me Sasha-chan earlier when I asked him if photographers ever made him act cringe-worthy level cute.

They all looked at me, and then Momoi, followed by the rest of them, laughed. Okay, so I don't have to be that embarrassed. Good 'cause I almost died just now.

When Kise was done laughing he looked back up at me. "What is it, Sasha-chan?" he laughed again. Everyone else, including me, joined him. Well, except the Mr. We-don't-smile guys. But whatever, it was still comfortable somehow.

I reached towards Aomine, who I think was getting annoyed that I always reached for his phone instead of someone else's. When Takao offered to let me borrow his for the day I said no because Aomine is my new best friend, I was clearly joking, we laughed, but I think Aomine is starting to believe that I actually think that. I keep borrowing it when I don't need to to annoy him. It's pretty funny actually.

"Since you're a model, does that mean you have a lot of money?" I asked.

He laughed and looked at me. I think I might've made him uncomfortable, but maybe not it's hard to tell. He might not like talking about finances.

"Yeah, I guess." he said simply. "Why."

Thank God for Takao, him and Midorima had been teaching me simple Japanese things. Midorima was being too strict so Takao took over and I think he's the only reason I understood that.

"Do you wanna pay for my meal?" I typed. Still don't know enough to ask out loud.

He looked shocked that I asked for a second. I tried to make it seem less needy or rude by acting like him. Pouting my lips and then smiling goofily. I hope he knows I'm mostly joking... but I do want him to pay. Maybe if I tell him why.. Momoi interrupts my thoughts and Kise's too probably.

"I'm paying for yours." Momoi said. When I didn't answer her or respond she must've thought I didn't understand her. Which, really I didn't, but I still had a guess as to what she said.

"Kise... talk." I said, pointing over to the doorway.

He caught what I meant and got up with me following him and Momoi looking confused at the table. They all looked kinda confused but I was more worried about Momoi. She's been so sweet, I don't want to hurt her feelings.

He handed me his phone with a blank but kinda confused face and waited for me to say.. or type.. what I wanted.

"I don't know how much money Momoi has.. and she's already done so much. I just thought if you have more money you could pay and I could find a way to pay you back one day." At least I hope.

Kise just smiled and chuckled a bit.

"That's sweet of you. I'll pay for your meal, but don't worry about paying me back or anything, you're right, I do make good money."

Thank God.

After we ate was when the feeling of dread really sank in. What if Momoi figured out I was technically homeless. It's not a big deal yet. It's not cold yet, the weather's been nice. It's like camping... poor person camping. Please don't let her find out.

Momoi clapped her hands and stood up.

"Time to take Sasha home! Who wants to come?"

"They don't all need to come with us." Aomine complained.

"Then you go home and we'll take her home." Momoi said.

They're arguing over me again. Dear God I really am their puppy. Maybe I can just say I remember the way wouldn't fall for that. I don't think any of them would honestly. Damn...

Just then Momoi got a call and started panicking.

"Dai-chan my mom's in the hospital again!" she yelled.

Aomine looked panicked, too. What happened. Is she okay, she looks scared.

"I have to take Sasha home... but... my dad said it wasn't bad or anything. But what if he was lying? I can't take Sasha to something like that. "

"Satsuki. Calm down. I'll take Sasha home, she'll be fine. Go see your mom. Tell her I said 'hi'." Aomine said.

"But... she might need me for something, you're mean!"

"I'll be extra nice to her just go."

All I saw was Momoi bow to me, tears in her eyes, and she ran off. Shouting a quick and sad "Sorry" to looked like he wanted to go with her. They are good friends. I don't know what happened, though. I think Takao was trying to talk to me but I wasn't paying attention. Is Satsuki Unnie okay? Is she hurt? Is someone dead? She looked so scared and upset but she still acted like she was worried about me. She can't do that, be worried about me when something bad happens to her. Where's Kuroko? I'm looking around but I'm not seeing him and my eyes are clouded with tears. I really hope Momoi is okay.

"Satsuki.."

Takao is still trying to talk to me. ".. we'll... home."

When I heard 'home' I looked up. Poor Takao had his phone all frantic, I wasn't crying badly or anything. Barely any tears, I'm only worried for Momoi. Maybe something bad did happen, he looks really worried, too.

"What?" I asked.

"We're gonna take you home."

I can't understand him. I think I heard home again. We, and you maybe? They're taking me home? Yeah... I forgot about that. I reached out for Takao's phone.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

Aomine answered me. " She'll be okay. Her mom's sick but it's not bad, don't worry about it. She told me to take you home for her, okay?"

"..Okay." Maybe they'll care less if Momoi isn't here. "I remember the way now. I'll go on my own and be fine."

They looked like they didn't believe me. Even the big red-head didn't believe me. Woopsy.

"Really?" Aomine asked sarcastically.

Don't be rude or I'll call you Ahomine. I'm not sure what it means but Momoi calls him that and I'm 99.9% sure it's an insult.

"Yeah." I said simply. I started walking away in a random direction, trying to end it there. But of course, being the nice guys they were, they followed me. All of them. Do you realize how creepy it probably looks. A group of huge guys following a lost foreign girl. At least not many people are around. And they're not really noticing us. I turned around and looked at them all.

"Takao!" Him and Kise are the only ones I feel close enough to yell at without them getting angry or something. "No." I said. It must look like I'm them like dogs, but I can't remember the word for stop sooo...

Kagami laughed. "No." he mimicked.

Midorima sighed. "Don't let her leave, she doesn't know where she is. I'm going home." he turned around and started walking the other way. One down, few more to go.

I pointed at Midorima and made a scooting motion to tell them to be like him, but they all just looked annoyed by me. I sighed. "Okay." I'll just let them take me to some random building like my original plan. "Come."

"She really thinks we're dogs, huh." Kagami said.

Murasakibara looked bored and tired only a few minutes after walking, I felt bad for him. Maybe he has a disease or something. Okay, I'll just stop here. What is this place? Looks kinda like a hotel. Okay. That'll work. I turned and waved to them while walking inside the building when Himuro stopped me.

"This is where you live?" he asked.

I read the phone and looked back up at him and nodded. Aomine rolled his eyes behind him and the rest looked befuddled. This isn't a hotel is it? Stick with the lie, just stick with it.

"Yeah. I live here." I sounded it out the best I could but it still wasn't doing well. I'll get better.

Himuro typed again and showed it to me. "Sasha.. this is a lawyer's office."

Crap.

I took his phone and typed. "I meant, this is where my dad works."

"Your dad is a lawyer?"

"My host father. Yes."

"That's weird because this isn't actually a lawyer's office it's a hospital."

CRAP

Okay.. new plan. Tell the truth then run. There are more people around now. They'll never catch me!

I quickly typed into Himuro's phone and threw it at Kise to try to distract them. As soon as he caught it and they were all looking at him to read it, I ran.

"Okay, I'm homeless. Don't worry I'll be fine, bye!"

A collective "What the hell?!" came from where they were and then I saw them chasing me. Or at least Takao and Aomine were. Kise still had a weird look on his face and the others looked blank. Like they were trying to figure out what just happened.

Surprisingly, I'm doing pretty well running from them. Okay here comes Kagami. Still I'm doing good so far. I just have to lose them somewhere in a crowd. I should find somewhere where the lights are about to turn and cross the street. That works in the movies. I'll go in a building! Why do they care anyway? I mean, Takao is a nice guy and all, but Aomine? Unless he's worried about Momoi... I stopped running to think about it. What would Aomine tell her when he lost me? Would he have to lie to her or maybe he would tell the truth and she'd be worried. I doubt Aomine wants to lie to her when she's already worried about her mom... that's probably why.

Right then Aomine ran into me and grabbed me.

"What were you thinking?" he yells. Does he know I can't understand?

"I'm sorry." I said. I'm glad I finally remembered how to say sorry. This isn't really a good time to say oops.

He's not even panting, I mean it's not like we ran far, I made it like a block and a half, but I'm still pretty insulted. However, I'm a bit busy thinking about what's gonna happen. So they know now... what are they gonna do? Kise might rent me a hotel room but I hope not, I already owe him from the money he spent on my food. And he can be kinda stuck up so maybe he'll see me as trash and wanna leave me alone. Wow. I've never wanted someone to think of me as trash before. I mean, I don't really want it now, but if it meant they'd leave me then I'd get over it. Unless they beat me up but I don't think I have to worry about that with these guys.

The rest come up behind them and look at me. Kise looks angry. Himuro still has his straight face. Where is Kuroko? Maybe he followed Momoi and I didn't notice. It's so scary 'cause you never know if he's there or not. Everyone looks like a mixture of confused and angry. I feel really bad. I hoped they wouldn't care or would just be a bit surprised and move on.

Takao looked between everyone and me and then said something. Aomine moved away from me and was staring at the ground. I think he's mad, too. Dang it.

"I'm sorry." I don't know what else to say.

Takao looked upset but then brought out his phone and showed it to me.

"You'll stay with me, then." he said.

I can't do that, I'm already annoyed that I couldn't outrun Mr. Perfect Tan.

I reached for his phone and typed into it, my hands are shaking. This is so bad.

"I've mooched off you guys enough. I'll be fine. "

How am I gonna get out of this?

"No. Come." Takao said. Aww, he wanted me to understand so he used simple words. Either that or he was making fun of my dog commands earlier. Probably both. I have no choice and it's getting awkward, they're all waiting for me to run again or something.

I sighed. "Okay."

I guess I'm not getting out of this.


	4. Chapter 4: Takao's House

Hey! So I'm here with another chapter for the day. That's 4 chapters in one day! Just kidding. I technically already wrote the first two and half of the third before and today all I've done is edit them and stuff so really I've edited 2 1/2 chapters and I've written 1/2 a chapter plus this one lol. But whatever.

Also IMPORTANT; kinda? lol from now on translated things or things from a phone while Sasha is communicating with them in Japanese and vice versa will be in [these] brackets.

* * *

It was a long and awkward walk to Takao's house. He seemed upset at me but I don't see why he would be. I like him, he's so sweet and care-free, but we're not close friends or anything. So I don't understand why any of them could feel betrayed by me... maybe they're not and they're just upset because.. I honestly don't know. Maybe Takao is hurt by me not telling him somehow... I just don't get it.

We're just getting to his house now. He told me not to be bothered by his younger sister and with how kind he is I didn't want to say I don't like kids. I just told him that I wasn't good with kids and he said he'd make her leave me alone.

He just handed his phone to me, too. I asked if he would need it, Aomine kept getting texts from people when I had his, and some were pretty dirty.

[ I just don't want that to happen again..]

Takao laughed loudly and clutched his sides. "That's amazing." he wheezed. Still holding his side with one arm, he reached out for the phone and I handed it to him.

[ Don't worry nothing like that will happen to you. Unless it's a wrong number, then just direct them to Aomine. ] he was still laughing while I read it. And I couldn't help but laugh at that last part. I think I'm gonna enjoy this time... wait..

[How long am I staying? A few hours or the night?]

Takao stopped laughing and stared back at me. He looked at me seriously and then broke out his grin again.

[ As long as you need to. You can live with me if you want! We can be like roommates! Or a married couple! ]

I could feel myself blush like crazy.. oh oppa that's not the right thing to say. Did I just say oppa? Okay, Shura, not in Korea anymore. Wrong country. Come to think of it, I called Momoi unnie before didn't I? I'll have to break myself of that.

[ Please don't say things like that ! You'll get my hopes up ;) ]

I was just joking but he started blushing, too, so I think he accidentally took it seriously.

[ I was joking ] I said, trying to clarify.

He laughed awkwardly and then continued to walk. Oh yeah, we've been standing here in public with him almost on the ground laughing and me talking to him through a robot on a phone. If someone saw us they might've thought we were durarara cosplayers or something.

Once again it's silent, less awkward though, that's good.

"Here we are!" Takao stretched his arms outward and turned to smile at me again. It was a smaller smile.. I think he's mad again. He pointed at a nice house to our left. It has two stories. How rich do you have to be to actually have a house that's two stories. It's like one of the houses in the shows.

It's so nice looking. I'm gonna be staying in it, too. For maybe the weekend. I can't just stay with him forever, I'm not even sure if he was joking or not. But I can't. Even though I'd like to... maybe, unless his parents or sister are annoying or rude. If so, I'll have to leave. I'm really confrontational, and as a mature person, I can't get into arguments with such a nice person's parents, even if they have bad views or something. Do it for him.

We walked up to his house and he opens the door, okay this is getting real. Just then I hear a little girl yell. That must be his sister..

"Kazu!"

Why are kids so loud. Oh dear what if she hates me? What if she wants the dirty foreigner away from her family. Kids and girls are scary and she's a little girl what do I do?

Hiding behind Takao seems like a good idea actually. Wait no don't pick her up. Yeah thanks Takao now she sees me.

"Kazu...chan. Who's this pretty lady?" she practically screamed.

"This is my new wife Sasha." Takao said.

Okay I'm hearing my name but not understanding what's going on.

I tap Takao on the shoulder and wave at him to get his attention. His mom, I'm guessing, is sitting on the couch where his sister was and she's laughing withher daughter about something. They're all looking at me now... I only wanted one Takao's attention...

"What is it?" he asked.

What is it? Yeah why'd I tap on him?

"Hi." I said. Pathetic but at least it's something.

His sister laughed and his mom smiled but tried to hide it. I'm still seeing it but I appreciate the effort, I see where Takao gets his cute little smile. They're almost identical.

"Isn't she cute? She can stay over for a while, right?"

"Of course! But don't you two do anything..." cue mom break to look at young child. "play.. grown up games."

Takao blushed... and moms are moms so she must be teasing him. It's probably about me. Cue me blushing, too. For God's sake I can't even understand them and I'm embarrassed.

"Of course.." Takao said, still looking down a bit.

His mom turned to me and smiled at me. Yup, identical. Almost completely, but I don't know, there's something about Takao's that makes it better to me. That was cheesy but I just mean his face is nicer with it. I think it's either his hair style or his eyebrows, but his smile is nicer.

His mom is talking to me now.. did he not tell her? I'm looking at Takao trying to get him to help and he's just over in the corner laughing really hard.

"Umm... miss. Takao.. mom. Takao-ma." I struggle with trying to find something to call her.

And apparently my struggling is even funnier than my confused face, because he laughs hysterically the second I call his mom, Takao-ma.

"Mom, I'm sorry I forgot. She's staying here because she's homeless and she doesn't even speak Japanese." he explained, trying to catch his breath.

"Honey, you brought home a stranger."

"No, actually we met yesterday."

His mom just gave him a 'my stupid son' look like he just said something dumb and she doesn't know whether to be annoyed or amused.

"She stayed with one of my basketball friends last night and they were gonna take her home, but then we found out she was homeless when she tried to runaway and we had to catch her, so I told her she can stay here from now on. "

"That's very sweet Takao, but you have to ask your dad, too. And I don't think he'll be as trusting as I am, with such an exotic looking girl here."

"Mom, what did I tell you about calling my friends exotic?"

"What? She's got nice green eyes. Your babies would be pretty!"

"Mom, the wife thing was a joke."

"It doesn't have to be!"

I have no idea what they're arguing about but he's embarrassed and his mom keeps looking at me and winking what do I do? Takao sighed, I guess he lost, and turned back to me.

[ I'll show you to your room, okay? ]

[ I get my own room? ]

[ Of course! You're gonna be staying here for a long time aren't you? ]

That catches me off guard. Is he serious? I can't tell... but I think he is.

[ How long do you think I'll be staying? ]

He looks at me confused before he answers. [How long are you staying in Japan?] he asked.

That _really_ catches me off guard. He really would be okay with me staying the entire time I'm here?

[ I'll be staying in Japan until I know Japanese. Once I learn the language I don't really have to be here, because by the time I'm almost fluent, I'll know a lot of the history and culture, and be bored. ]

My turn to catch _him_ off guard. He stared at me for a while and my face burned. He's scrutinizing me..

[What do you mean?] he asks.

[Well. It's kind of boring. But when I was younger and living with my mom I wanted to see everything else in the world. Everything is so boring to me. I couldn't pay attention in school because I already knew most of the stuff.. because when I got bored at home I read my older brothers' old books. Then I was so tired of living in the same place I moved to America with my brothers but we weren't technically supposed to be there, so I stayed in the south while my brothers lived in Boston. After living in America for only a little over a year and learning a little Spanish, everyone was learning English and it seemed boring to me, I started looking around. America isn't as fun when you don't have the privilege of coming off as "American". There are race wars everywhere and I seemed to be caught in the middle of a lot of it. Even then, I didn't have it the worst, if I would've been darker I would've had it much worse. I moved away from America when I realized it wasn't a great place like everyone seems to think. Then I moved to Russia to speak Russian better. I'm half Russian so I knew a little already.. after learned only a little of Russian history and culture it got boring. Maybe I was studying too much, but it lost it's magic, too. Then I moved to South Korea, it's food is the best part. Kimchi is amazing. Korea is what took the longest for me to get tired of, and I'm still not really _tired_ of it, but I liked it so much I left before I _could_ get tired of it. When learning about Korean history, I read some stuff about Japan, too. So I snuck on a boat and came here. ]

Takao took a while to process this. He smiled his smile again, why doesn't he have lines?

[ Well then I'll just have to make sure Japan never loses it's magic, so that you don't have to leave me! ]

[ If you don't stop talking like that, I really will get false hope. ] or punch you...

He blushed and laughed. After a while of just talking, his dad came home. Which, I wasn't really worried about until he was.

"Dad!" Takao shouted coming down the stairs. The way he got nervous made me not want to come down myself. "You're home! Let me help you with your stuff, did you have a good day?"

"Kazu, why is your voice so high right now? What'd you break this time?" I heard a deep voice talk to Takao.

"What? I didn't break anything! But I did bring someone over for dinner."

Whatever he said caught his dad's attention he looked over at the stairs. Why? Because Takao had to get down on his knees and throw his arms towards the stairs like he was at some exhibit. Very smooth.

His dad saw me and, maybe because I was a girl, he was surprised. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked down at Takao.

"So you got yourself a girlfriend? "

"Oh no, she's just a friend."

"Oh... well she's cute why not?"

"Dad!"

"That's exactly what I said!"

"Mom!"

This entire family seems funny.. I hope his dad lets me stay. Not for me, there won't be bad weather tonight or anything, I could easily sleep on the roof and no one would know, but I hate the look people give me when they're disappointed or feel bad for me. Those looks are so annoying because I never know how to respond to them. And people look at me like they feel bad for me... when I'm not even bothered. It's like everyone expects me to be weak or something. I'm a homeless teenage girl living in Japan? I can handle myself.

*dinner time*

We sat around the dinner table. I thought it would be awkward but they just talked. I don't know what about, for obvious reasons. But every once in a while Takao would try his best to include me in the conversation. He even would sneak the phone to me where he translated the topic of the conversation and the mood so I could follow better. It's nice of him, and it helps a little, but I still can't follow anything longer than a few sentences. The thought is nice, though. No wonder Midorima keeps him around. He seems like a really thoughtful friend. He gets so excited, too. Over everything and anything. My friends _and parents_ used to make fun of me for the same thing. They said I was like a kid or a puppy or something. Always bouncing around, never _not_ talking. I can't do that now. Just wait until these bitches see how much I can talk. The second I can make simple sentences, I'm talking everyone's ears off. I have SO much to say about all of this.

It's weird having dinner with a family at a table, though. We didn't do that back home. We ate in our own rooms or in the living room. I thought it was like a fake thing that families eat together and share. But apparently, it's a middle class thing. Makes sense. Takao got my attention and I looked up from the food. Oh, he's trying to tell me something. I feel rude, I'm staying at his house after making him and his friends chase me and now I can't even listen to his family while I eat their dinner.

[ Are you okay? My dad wanted to ask you things by the way, but answer me first! ]

I laughed at his wording and took the phone.

[ Okay demanding. I'm fine. Just tired, I guess. Probably because earlier I ran from these huge basketball brutes and I almost died! It was scary, you should've been there to protect me! ] I said. He laughs when I show him and then asks his dad something. His dad responds and then he types something into the phone.

Uh oh. Interview time.

[ What's your favorite color? ]

 _What?_ That's it? Is he making me comfortable before he throws the scary ones at me or something?

[ Yellow... I guess. I like them all depending on the day, but yellow is the one I get on all those 'Which Color Are You?' quizzes and Orange, I got orange once.. and I'm a Gemini and I saw somewhere that yellow is a Gemini's color so that, too. ]

He reads it and turns to his father to repeat my answer. This should be awkward but it really doesn't feel like it. The next question made Takao blush and argue with his dad. Well this'll be good. Finally, Takao gave in and typed the question with a pout.

[ What kind of man do you like? ] it said.

Ohhh okay. Daddy's trying to get his son laid ain't he? Without typing I simply answer. "Takao-chan."

Takao did a movie worthy spit-take, Takao-ma couldn't stop laughing so she she ended up spitting into her napkin, more at her son's reaction than my answer. His sister looked bored but confused. And his dad, his dad has the best face. It was like a crazy mixture of bewilderment, confusion, and like he's trying to figure out if I was joking or not because he looked like he might've been thinking really hard. Like really hard. I waited for Takao to calm down and his dad to laugh or do something to indicate he knew I was joking, but it took forever.

[ I like men that are charming but also protective. ] I answered for real to calm them down.

Takao looked over at me and got his fake angry face on. He typed into the phone and shoved it in my face.

[ You can't just tease a man like that! ]

[ Taka-chan what are you talking about? ]

[ You can't be both informal and formal at the same time, it plays with a man's heart! ]

[Does it Tak-chan? ]

[ It's dangerous! And quit shortening my name everytime you answer! ]

[ Ta-chan don't be angry. ]

He laughed loudly and his family had been laughing through the whole "argument".

[ Sasha's so cruel. ] he says, heaving a dramatic sigh.

His sister was really enjoying it and his mom and dad kept giving him these little 'should we be proud or embarrassed' looks.

When dinner was over, Takao-ma wanted us all to watch a movie together, but Takao is about to fall asleep and honestly so am I. Which reminds me, did he ever talk to his dad about me?

[ Is your dad okay with this? ]

That's probably not a good thing to ask in front of his dad but in my defense I forgot it was on it's little speaky mode. Not my fault. Entirely.

"Am I okay with what? Kazu I thought you said the two of you weren't dating?"

Takao shrunk a bit and I felt really bad. I didn't mean to get him in trouble, oh God what if he gets in trouble?

"We're not. But it will be sort of like a marriage!"

His mother jumped up. "Honey, that's not the way to win his approval!"

"What's like a marriage?" his dad was starting to look confused and kinda mad. It sucks because he's a nice guy but he definitely seems protective. What if he doesn't want the gross foreigner around?

"Sasha... she needs a place to stay. She's living in Japan as a person that doesn't speak Japanese, but she is learning!"

"And why doesn't she have a host family?"

"She... isn't really a student."

"Her parents are okay with this?"

" Her parents... well. Western families aren't the same way towards their children. She's living on her own here, and she can't get a job or anything, and she's my age, but she isn't going to school here because she wants to choose what she learns and not be dictated."

"So she thinks Japanese schools are like dictatorships?" Why does he seem mad?

" No! She just needs her freedom or she can't concentrate. She's a good girl, but she doesn't have a place to stay. So I told her she could stay here."

"For how long?"

"Until she's done studying."

Takao's father sighed and sat down on the couch again. I watched in anticipation as he rubbed his temples and sighed one more time before looking up at Takao and then looking to me. He moved his eyes between us a few more times and then laughed lightly.

Should I run?

His dad sighed and rubbed his temples.

" I'm sorry." he said.

"Dad, please." Takao begged.

" Kazu, your friend is a good kid, please tell her she's welcome. I had a long day at work son, you're kind and that's good. Please just try to be less quick to invite people to stay for years. Tell her I'm sorry for being a bad host, and that I appreciate how willing she is to help out where she can."

Takao stared at him. " Th-Thank you. It's fine, she's just really nice and it doesn't seem fair that she would have to live alone on the streets or something.

"You're right. I'm assuming you showed her the guest room."

"No actually, she'll be sleeping in my room with me. "

They all start laughing, minus me and his younger sister, who don't understand the joke. His dad turned around and nodded to me with a small smile.

I guess that means I'm staying? Maybe?


	5. Chapter 5: New Teacher?

Thank you for reading this! Please leave any advice or helpful critiques that you might have. Yesterday I put up the first four and I'm working on some more right now. Here's chapter 5.

Chapter 5: New Teacher?

* * *

It was sort of anti-climatic but it couldn't have been better. His dad chilled out, he apologized, which I didn't expect. He's letting me stay. But now, I can't sleep. Not because of Takao's dad, but because of Takao, the jerk. This is all his fault. He made me watch scary movies and now I can't sleep.

His family, mainly his mom, wanted to watch a movie but Takao and I were too tired, but by the time we walked all the way up the stairs, Takao and I were more awake. IT happens, okay. It happens. We both suddenly felt more energized. Maybe there's a really nice ghost here. I think he noticed that I didn't want to watch the movie with his little sister, who is now obsessed with me by the way, or his dad, who seems kind and all but after that long robotic speech about how cool his son is and how I can make it on my own, I'm too embarrassed to see him. Takao said he and I were both too tired to watch the movie with them and they accepted that since his sister was being loud already anyway. Cute I guess.. if you like kids it's cute, I mean.

So anyway, Takao says he's not that tired so if I need anything, come get him, he's conveniently next to me. So naturally, when I lie in bed for 5 minutes staring up at the ceiling craving someone to talk to, I decide to go to his room and see if he's tired. I knocked on his door and he said a quick 'come in', acting all cheerful probably knowing it's me. We sat down and talked for a little while, about random things, mostly Midorima and basketball. And kimchi. He also can do back-flips apparently? Which is awesome but when he wanted to show me I told him not to because he might hurt himself.

After like an hour of casual conversation, scary stories got brought up. We were talking about things that freak us out and I said I've always been weak when it comes to scary movies, even the corny ones. Which, of course, means that we have to watch some.

He picked out the movie we'd be watching, without telling me what it is, and puts it in. I don't know if he forgot or what, but the movie doesn't come with Russian sub titles, so I kinda just watched the actiony parts and was on his phone the other part of the time. His games are fun, and he really doesn't random dirty texts from girls, or anyone, which is a major plus. He only got one text and when I handed it him, he laughed and said something about Midorima losing a lucky item right before bed time and tripping in the shower, then not being able to fall asleep. Poor guy.

I think halfway through the movie, Takao noticed I wasn't watching it, and only looking up when the music got intense, because he sighed and smiled a bit then stopped the movie and explained what was happening to me. It was sweet, and as much as I hate that he felt so bad for it, I can't believe neither of us thought of that sooner. It wouldn't be hard for him to tell me when they find something out that's important and keep me updated like that. It's a scary movie, it's not like the plot is _really_ that important.

But now, the movie is over and Takao is asleep. Well, practically, he keeps saying he's awake but he says it with his eyes closed after I play with his nose for 10 minutes to wake him up. Seriously, I timed it. And since the kids' movie his family was watching is over and they're all asleep, I'm the only one in the house that's awake. An unfamiliar house... after a scary movie. Yeah, I'm dying. It's such a silent night, too, and the weather's nice. So when it gets cold all of a sudden or I hear someone turn in their bed, I die a little inside.

Takao, please wake up. Maybe I should play with his nose to wake him up again. Or his ears this time. I don't want to wake him up when he's tired though, but it is Saturday night, so it's not like he can't sleep in tomorrow morning. What if I wake him up to walk me to my room and then watch him to make sure he gets back to bed okay. The hallway is always the scariest, but this one really is because Takao told me nothing about a cat or dog but I swear I keep hearing something trot down the hallway with little quick feet. Takao, please wake up.

I also feel a little creepy, I just realized something. Takao probably planned on me sleeping in the room he showed me, but now he's asleep and I'm basically just watching him. Which makes me really creepy. What time is it? I've been laying here for an hour I think, the movie was like 3 hours, we started it after talking for 1 hour. I hate math, what does all that mean? That's...5 hours? Maybe. That's 4 hours and then however long I've been laying here. I timed the 10 minute nose pulling like 4 times and there's time in between that, so at least an hour. Yeah 5 hours. Dinner was at 6 or 7, we started talking at like 8. Eight plus five is thirteen.. it's 1:00 AM? No I thought it was later, I want the sun!

Takao is moving now, he's dreaming about something. I hope it's a bad dream. Not a scary one that'd be mean, but like an embarrassing one. I hope he's playing basketball in his underwear right now. Wait! I think I can make that happen.

"Takao." I whisper.

He barely murmurs back. Good enough I guess. Should I say it myself or play the translator? He might wake up if I play the translator. I type into the translator and read it quietly.

"You're playing basketball." I say a few times.

How long do you have to say something before it sticks? One more time.

"You're playing basketball."

Okay, next.

"You're in your underwear."

Say that a few times. Next.

"You're very embarrassed."

Wait, is he waking up? He's waking up. I don't wanna leave alone! Hide under the bed! I fell off the edge of the bed. Good enough, same thing really.

"What are you doing?"

How did he know I was there? He was asleep, shouldn't he have been too groggy to see me fall? Mean.

[ I was trying to give you nightmares. ]

He gives me a funny face and almost falls asleep again but chuckles a bit.

"Why?" he asks.

[ Because I'm scared. ] I answer.

"Cute." he yawns.

I frantically type into the phone before he falls asleep again.

[ Walk me to my room, please! ]

His eyes barely open and he laughs again, if you can call it a laugh, it's more like he breaths quick and hard out of his nose and smiles, but still.

"Kay." he says, standing up to walk with me.

* * *

The next morning I wake up to smell food and hear Takao and his sister playing around. What time is it? I look over at the clock and try to let my eyes adjust to the light. It's lunch. So I slept almost 10 hours? Oops. I bet I look rude as hell right now. Please sir, invite me into your home, let me stay here and contribute, I promise I'll do well. As long as I can sleep for 12 hours at a time and wake your son up trying to give him bad dreams. Oh yeah, I did that. That was genius, I'm genius. Except he woke up. I wonder if he remembers it... I don't wanna get up and go ask him. There's food, though.

Let's see... I enjoy food more than sleep but I can get food just about any time and I might not ever be able to sleep in again... okay, I love food more than life itself most of the time, but sleep wins this one.

* * *

I wake a little while late, I hope, to Takao and his younger sister on the bed. Why are they on the bed?

"Takao.. why.." Crap how do you say 'what are you doing'?

[ She wanted to see if you were awake. ] Takao typed.

"Oh..." what else can I say to that? "Annyeong... " crap wrong language. "Hello." what language is that? That was Japanese, okay.

His sister giggled, I gotta learn this kid's name.

"We brought you breakfast for lunch!" she said, a bit too loudly. It's a good thing I had a good sleep and I'm not cranky. I really don't wanna be mean to his baby sister. Even though I am normally a morning person, anybody can be bitter in the morning after a night like that. Why are Japanese horror movies so intense.

I look over at Takao and raise my eyebrow. He laughed and typed into the phone. That poor phone is being so overworked.

[ We made you breakfast around 11 or 12 but then you were still asleep. It's almost 2, though and we didn't want you to sleep the whole day or anything. ]

Aww. Sweet. I reach out for the phone and smile at his sister, who looks way too excited to be here.

[ That's sweet, who's idea was that? ]

Takao read it out loud because his sister was whining and she got excited and started pointing at herself. Aww she's cute. Kinda. I guess.

"Thank you!" I said trying to match her excitement.

[ You could've woken me up earlier, you let me let the food get cold. ] I said.

Takao laughed and shook his head. "It's fine."

I think I got that? I rubbed my eyes and moved the blankets to the side. Where's this breakfast they're talking about? Wait, if they made it where are their parents?

I turn around to see Takao, with his sister on his back, following me out. [ Takao-kun, where are your parents? ]

[Oh. They're out. They go out every Sunday and have a full day together. Eating out, walking in the park, whatever. ]

That's so sweet. They have such a happy and healthy marriage, no wonder Takao is so perfect. It's a good thing their marriage is so happy or I'd probably look like some lazy rat right now.

[ So they don't know I stayed in bed all day? ] I asked.

Takao and his younger sister both laugh loudly at me. That's not fair, it's reasonable that I'm worried about that. I just promised his dad I'd be like a live in maid.

[ It's not funny. What if your dad thinks I'm some lazy rat?! ]

Takao snickered again but at least his sister is taking this seriously.

" I'm sorry." [ You don't have to worry about that. My dad's never been like that before and it really was just from stress. And bad wording in my argument. He even apologized before he left this morning and tried to make breakfast for us to make up for it. He practically had to be pulled out by my mom when we said we wanted to make our own food. He only was sad that he wouldn't be here to say sorry to you again when you woke up. ]

[ He didn't even look slightly annoyed that I wasn't awake by the time they left? ] I think I was too eager to hear the answer because Takao gave me an amused and kinda startled look when I shoved the phone in his hands to make him answer faster.

[ No. :)) You're so worried for nothing. They left at 9 and when he asked if you were awake and I said no he just nodded and said that it was understandable. Then he made a joke about how early they wake up every day. He's really not upset. ]

I sighed. Well that's good. Now how can I make him like me? I should clean up. This house is already clean, but I'm sure the kitchen might be a little messy since they just cooked.

[ I'm gonna go clean up the kitchen, then. ] I typed. I walked down the hallway and down the stairs with Takao and his sister trailing behind me snickering. I'm honestly frightened, I've watched too many scary movies to feel safe walking down stairs while a child is behind me laughing. It's just not safe at all. I turn around and they immediately stop and straighten up, so I turned back around and walked again. And then they started again. "Oppa!" I turn around and shout at him. Of course I'm joking, but I accidentally really scared his sister. Tears start to fill her eyes, they still cry at these things around her age? Wait how old is she? What's the kids name?! I never found out her name! I'm a terrible person.

"Okay." I tried to say it like 'it's okay' but I don't know how to say that so I guess I'm working with 'okay'. Maybe if I do the hand thing where people act like they're pushing something down. I never understood why people do that? OH it's like calm down, I think. So like you're making a down motion to tell them to chill... maybe?

Takao's laughing!

[ Don't laugh! ] I type angrily... and he continues. [ It's okay little... child.. ] what's her name?! [ Takao-ttal please stop crying! ] I typed.

She stopped immediately and laughed ... wait why is she laughing?

" You were right Kazu that was funny!"

They did NOT plan this.

" She looks so cute when she's panicking! "

I heard cute.. why is the little girl saying cute?

" I kind of feel bad, though. She really looked worried. " Takao said.

[ What are you two saying? ] I ask, trying not to look panicked or annoyed.

[ She thinks you're cute when you're panicking. ] Takao answered.

[ Your sister is scary. ] I am so mad right now. Not literally mad, but you can bet I'm gonna act like it for a while. [ Is that why you two were laughing behind me? ]

[ No. We were laughing because she thought it was funny that we already cleaned the kitchen up. ]

Honestly, what child is that well-behaved? Weirdest family ever.

[ Then what am I supposed to do? I guess I could study my Japanese.. ] I don't want to say it, but I don't want to be studying, I want to talk to Takao or someone. Kise even. I wonder if Takao has Kise's number...

[ I'll help! I've never taught someone Japanese. And maybe you can tell me some Russian words or something. ]

Well this'll be fun.

[ I don't know if that's a good idea... what if you get frustrated with me? I'm not a good student. ]

Takao laughed and typed into it. [ Don't worry! I've never been a teacher before! ] well that's comforting. [ And I promise to make you fel proud of every little accomplishment, not only reward you for big things, okay? That'll make learning more fun! ]

He's really into this. And he's kinda treating me like a kid, I guess it's because his little sister is here and he's just naturally brotherly so I'll ignore it. But he better not get upset when I ask for a piggy-back ride.

"O...Okay!" Why'd I have to agree so cheerfully? Now I seem happy about this. Well, I kind of am, but I'm more scared that we'll end up hating each other than happy. I'm really not a good student.


	6. Chapter 6: Takao is a Sneaky Jerk

Chapter 6: Takao is a Sneaky Jerk and Midorima is a Diva

* * *

Takao and I had been studying for only an hour before Midorima texted Takao about practicing. Takao asked me if I wanted to come or stay here by myself and laughed when I gave him my 'well duh' look. His sister, poor thing, got bored with us studying and went to a friend's house so I would've really been all on my of course I choose to go with him. I haven't really talked to Midorima much besides when he loaded vocabulary and grammar rules on me while walking to lunch. But he missed the whole 'tell them you're homeless then run away' "plan" I had, and I don't know if Takao told him about it.. I mean, I'm sure he probably did. But what does Midorima think of me now? I'm really nervous about it but Takao is just walking happily to the court, me trailing behind him anxiously. He doesn't seem very nervous, so maybe that's a good sign. Or maybe that's a bad sign and he forgot that Midorima doesn't like me or something.

As we walk closer to the court, I see Midorima's green hair alone shooting hoops... and not missing a single shot. Takao said he never missed a shot but I thought it was an exaggeration, because he was his friend and all. He's a lot taller than Takao which only makes him scarier, at least Takao has a more average height. Maybe not compared to other teenage Japanese boys, but he's only 5'10, which is only about 3 or 4 inches taller than me... in heels at least. Still, Midorima also has this intimidating quiet thing that freaks me out. And he wears glasses, which makes him seem like one of those characters that are super smart and you pray through the movie that they're not evil because you know they'd make a great villain and they're also pretty hot. Minus the last part... Really I should be wearing glasses but I think I lost them somewhere in the snow back in South Korea so I'm probably never gonna see those again. And I probably seem kinda cold and quiet, but that's only because I can't understand anything. Literally. Okay so maybe Midorima is just a quiet guy that happens to wear glasses and I'm being judgmental and annoying, either way he's still intimidating.

When we get onto the court Midorima simply calls for Takao and continues to shoot. Okay. Maybe he doesn't know I'm here. Or he just doesn't care. I don't mind, I am kinda awkward anyway so it might be for the best. Takao waves over to me and says something like 'watch'. I think that's what he said or meant. I heard 'see' and I think 'me' or 'I' maybe so I think he wants me to watch him play, maybe he does something cool.

For a while the two of them just practiced together and, as much as I like Takao, he's losing pretty badly. I have to give him credit though, he's fighting pretty hard. And he actually is doing pretty good. Even yesterday watching them, I didn't realize how good they were. Maybe because they were all playing and it always looks intense during regular games. But now, it's just these two. Midorima really does never miss a shot. It's crazy how good he is, Takao almost had the ball but Midorima shoots quickly _and_ accurately and poor Takao couldn't reach it in time. They're both sweating a lot and it's pretty gross actually. Takao's gonna stink later and I was gonna wash his clothes. Ew. Also, I know this sounds weird, but I didn't think Midorima would sweat. He just seems inhumanly perfect and smart, plus his hair is green, so I thought for a while he might be an alien. He seems too perfect to sweat. But he is almost as much as Takao. I think Takao's sweating more because he just drank a lot of water, though. Not because he's losing so bad.

* * *

Right when Takao was about to score, and he was very happy about it, he kept yelling my name and saying 'look! look!', his phone went off and I looked away. I just wanted to see who was calling him, so I could yell it to him so he wouldn't have to stop his little game. But it takes me a while to read in Japanese, any of it, and I missed his oh so amazing and impressive dunk. I really do feel bad, he acted so upset, and dunks are always cool.

"Takao-kun! I'm sorry!" I yelled at him.

He's still having a mini breakdown, Midorima rolling his eyes and telling him to get up.

"It was so cool, I can't believe you missed it!"

Takao I can barely understand you, stop speaking so quickly. And loudly. And slurring your words, it's not the end of the world.

[ Someone was calling! I'm sorry! ] I typed and brought it to him.

He stopped his hysterics and got up to see his phone.

" Oh it was my mom. I was wondering who would call me."

Mom? Oh okay.

"Shin-chan! My mom said my sister wants **me** to pick her up and take her home. I'll come right back here, okay? Take care of Sasha for me, alright? "

[ I'll be right back. My sister wants me to pick her up. You stay here! ]

Wait, why can't I go?

"Have fun!" Before I can ask him why I have to stay here, he runs off waving to us and yelling.

Now it's awkward. Midorima is just staring at Takao's back with an annoyed expression. He clenched his fists dramatically, as chill as he is, I think he might be just as diva like as Takao. Just quieter about it.

"Umm... Midorima-kun. " I don't know what to say in this situation. Or most situations really, but this one especially because I'm caught off guard. What was Takao thinking? Wait, is he trying to get rid of me? Is it because I tried giving him a bad dream last night because he deserved that!

Midorima looks down at me and sighs. He nods over to the bleachers and I follow him obediently. He's still intimidating after all. He pulls out his phone and opens a translator before handing it to me and sitting down. I guess we could get to know each other. He likes horoscopes... I know a little about that stuff. Maybe we can talk about that, or why he never misses a shot.

[ Why do you wrap your hand? ] I ask. That'll start a conversation! I hope. Oh dear lord, what if he had an accident or something and it's injured or scarred. I'm so rude. I should've asked him about basketball or horoscopes.

He looked up at me suddenly and then took the phone before typing into it. He's really concentrating on this, too. I am so good.

[ To put it simply, my left hand is my shooting hand and in order to keep it healthy and lucky, I need to take good care of it. ]

Wait. Takao said he talked a lot when talking about something important. Would he put something simply? Maybe he just doesn't want to talk to me...

[ What's your sign? ] he asks, interrupting my thoughts.

Or maybe he does!

[I'm a Gemini. What are you? ] I answer. I already know what he is, Momoi told me. And I know he isn't a fan of Kise and Kise is a Gemini. I hope I come off as calmer than Kise since I can't speak much. I'm really not but if it gets him to give me a chance so I can show him that I can be a good friend then I'll keep not talking until I'm fluent!

Midorima sighed and typed into the phone again.

[ I'm sorry but we're not compatible. ]

And with that he nodded to me and went back on the court, then started shooting again. That's... that's not fair at all..

"Hey!" oops. How do you say, 'you can't do that you jerk' and also 'i'm sorry for yelling please like me' in Japanese? Takao and I haven't gotten that far yet.

Midorima looks over at me and then turns back to the net when I don't have anything to say. This isn't right. We were fine before. Sort of. I mean we weren't exactly friends but he wasn't ignoring me or anything. He can't just walk off after saying something like that!

Okay it's been around 20 minutes and I've calmed down. Now I'm just very determined. If Gemini people and Cancer people don't get along then whatever. All I have to do is show him that I don't have the normal traits of a Gemini. What are the normal traits of a Gemini? Let's see :

Expressive

Quick-witted

social

communicative

restless

indecisive

clever

adaptable

impulsive

Okay like all of these are true for me this isn't fair. I can't just act like a completely different person. And how are most of these bad things? Mean. Shouldn't Cancers like clever people, with how much they apparently cry, we could write them poems. So what do I do? I'm sure he won't hate me or anything just because of this. I just have to show him that I'm fun and happy. And a good friend to have around. And not as braggy and egotistical as I sound right now.

I stand up and run over to the court, jumping up to slap the ball down after Midorima throws it. Unfortunately, I'm not tall at all and I didn't think it through. I was trying to look cool and sporty so he would want to play a game with me, and now he's staring at me, lying on the ground looking defeated. I wailed dramatically and loudly fake cried until I realized that this is exactly why Geminis and Cancers probably don't get along. Oops. Time to act more mature than I am.

I stand up and cough a bit. Now what? I was gonna ask to play but I left the phone over on the bleachers. I point over to the ball still on the ground under the hoop. Midorima sighs but nods anyway and points at the ball. I guess I have to pick it up and bring it over. I get the ball and walk over to the free throw line, alright scary 7 foot tall middle school basketball coach, I need your spirit. Remind me how to do this. I won one mini 3 on 3 game for a middle school tournament. And by 'I won' I mean, my two sportier friends did all the work while I stood under the net scared to move because there were so many people around, and I got both my free throws when I needed to. Which is like nothing, especially since it was years ago!

I get into what I _think_ is the right kind of stance and shoot the ball. It actually almost goes in. Almost. Midorima actually looked a bit disappointed but he just retrieved the ball and came back to shoot the ball himself. Of course he makes it, but surprisingly when he comes back with the ball this time, he hands me the ball. When I try and get the right stance he moved my legs further apart with his foot and moved my arms just a little. Okay so I was close. I went to shoot the ball and it got closer but bounced off the backboard. It even teased me by rolling on the rim a bit, the little jerk.

* * *

Midorima and I did this for about an hour before Takao came back with snacks and drinks. Aww. He better buy me stuff. Leaving me alone with his scary 8 foot tall friend. Rude. Okay so he's not that tall but I'm like 5'4 or 5'5 and I've been eating little to nothing for a month. Plus I'm young so I gain and lose quickly. One month of little eating on me looks like a lot more... or less?

"Did you two have fun?!" Takao sounds excited. Jerk. I'm sneaking into his room and putting his hand in water tonight.

I grab his phone from his pocket and type into it, trying really hard to keep the obviously fake angry look on my face. It's really hard because the look on Takao's face when I reached in his pocket was priceless.

[ Why couldn't I go with you?! That's so mean! Does your sister not like me? Is it because I still don't know her name? ]

Takao bursts out laughing and clutches his stomach falling to the ground. I love that he does that, too. I got called a fainting goat by a friend once because every time I laugh I fall down. Well ha! It looks cute on him, so it can't be that bad on me.

[ Her name is Kazuko silly. Why didn't you ask sooner? ]

[ I kept forgetting. And I didn't want to ask in front of her. ]

[ You're so funny the way you're scared of my family. They like you, you know? I'm sure she'd love for you to ask about her! ]

Yeah but would she really like it much for me to not know her name? [ Whatever. Why'd you leave me here, though? ]

[ Well I can't exactly leave Shin-chan alone here. He might get into trouble! ]

Okay, good enough. I shrug my shoulders and Takao types and looks at me excitedly.

[ So did you two get along well? ] he asked.

Awkward silence. . . . .

" She's quite pushy and invasive. She forced me to let her shoot, too, and didn't do well at all. " Midorima said.

I wonder what he's saying. I hope he's chewing Takao out for abandoning us.

Takao stared at him and then looked over at me. I smirked at him, I think Midorima is scolding him. Gotta stand behind him. I nodded. But right when I nodded Takao cackled.

[ So you two played together? Did you do well? ] he asked.

[ Eh... not really. But it was fun! I think Midorima had fun, too. He showed me how to shoot better and I made more than half of them after a few minutes! ]

Takao chuckled and looked back at Midorima. "Aww, you helped her learn to shoot? You really are a tsun aren't you? Did she do good?"

Midorima blushed and pushed his glasses up. "She did okay, but she's not good enough to make any team. So don't encourage her."

"So mean." Takao pouted.

* * *

[ So do you like Shin-chan? ] Takao asked.

We're walking back to Takao's house since it's about to be dark. Midorima and Takao played for a while longer before Midorima said it was probably time to leave, so he left before we did. I was packing up Takao's stuff and putting the trash away when Takao grabbed me and pulled me over to the free-throw line.

[ You have to make at 10 in a row before we can leave, okay? ] he said.

[ Why 10? Can't we start smaller? Like 5? ] I complained.

[ No, because 10 is my jersey number and therefore... I don't know, you just have to do 10 because it's my jersey number! ]

So we stayed for almost 30 more minutes before I got 10 in a row. I got a bunch but it was hard to do them in a row. There's more pressure and I kept having to start over. I'm surprised it didn't take longer though.

We're almost back at his house and poor Takao actually looks tired again tonight. He smells kinda bad, too. But that's mainly his sweat. He smelt fine before.

[ Yeah... I guess I like him. I don't think he likes me much, though. He said we're not compatible. ]

[ Haha, yeah he doesn't stuff like that. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll grow on him! ]

I guess... I'll just have to make him like me somehow. He likes horoscopes... maybe we can bond over that. I guess we'll see next time we see each other. I need a plan.


	7. Chapter 7: I Need a Plan

Thank you all for reading this and coming all the way to this chapter.

Also, please remember that I did put romance as a part of this story, so if you want Sasha to be set up with anyone I'll be happy to take a little vote in the reviews! All GOM members are on the table because I know them the best, Akashi I think would be a bit hard for me but it's fine. Also, Takao, and Himuro. Or Kagami but idk about him much. I just don't see it. I'm not sure about writing many other characters because like I said before I've never written ff before and so I don't want to start by having a lot of characters at a time, I just don't want anyone to be too OOC, you know? So I'd like to stick with what I know best. If you want to know her personality more to decide who you would like to see her with then I've decided some things about her.

She's an ENTP and I'll be giving more on her appearance in the next chapter.

She's very into personal freedom for everyone and is the type to speak up against someone a lot bigger than her for other people and oppressed people. Because she's lived so many different ways, she tries to relate to everyone at least a little. This isn't always a good thing, because these are the types of things that get people in trouble for speaking without thinking and being impulsive.

Anyway, onto the story.

* * *

Chapter 7. I Need a Plan

I've been up for hours trying to think of plans to get Midorima to like me. That sounds so sad and desperate but I'm mainly just upset he's not even giving me a chance. Because I'm a Gemini. Oh, please, I have had Cancer friends you meanie this is not right! I demand a retry. But I can't say that, that was already plan A and then I thought, yeah no that's not gonna work.

So far I have a few plans that might work. But I need to figure out which I'll use first. I guess I'll see tomorrow. I'm planning on going to Takao's school tomorrow with some food, but I need to know which food Midorima likes..

Time for a trip to Takao's room! I stand up and march over to his room dramatically. Wait what if he's busy or asleep? Ah well. I knock on his door and turn the nob, waiting for him to say something.

"Yeah?" he yelled.

Good. Not busy. I open the door and walk in to see Takao... working out? Hasn't he got enough exercise today? Midorima tried to kill him. He looks good, though. Nice arms.. he plays basketball, how have I never noticed how nice his arms are? I want nice arms. Why was I here? Oh yeah.

[ What's Midorima's favorite food? Do you know? ] I asked.

Takao stopped his weight-lifting and looked over at me curiously.

" Why? " he asked.

[ I want to bring him some food tomorrow. ]

Takao pouted and set the weights down. He came over to me and took the phone.

[ How come you don't want to bring me food? You're gonna hurt my feelings :( ]

[ Don't be dramatic silly, I'm bringing you some, too. I'm bringing you kimchi and salad. The kimchi is for after practice, though. I don't think it's good to eat something like that before working out haha. Plus I wanted to eat it together. ]

Upon reading that, the fake pout left his face and he smiled at me again.

[ Oh okay! He likes red bean soup that comes in a can. I'll buy it for you in the morning and you can bring it later, okay? ]

[ I can buy it! I'm not helpless. ]

[ Alright, where do you find it? ]

Okay, never mind, I can't get it. He notices my pout and chuckles.

[ Fine, you get it. But act surprised and don't tell him. ]

At that he laughed loudly. "Okay" he said.

"Good. " I said and turned to leave. Wait... shouldn't someone be spotting him?

"Takao.."

"Yeah?"

"Help?"

He looks up at me and furrows his eyebrows.

"What?" he asks.

Oh did I say it wrong? Never mind, phone time.

[ Do you need help? ]

He sighed and chuckled.

[ I thought you needed help. ] he says. [ Why would I need help. I can handle this! Do you not believe in me? ]

Well yeah I can see how that makes sense. I'm so dumb. He's so funny. The little pout that he does is so dramatic, like he frowns to low and wide it's just cartoonish, I love it. So of course I laugh at him.

"What? " he asks.

This makes me laugh more, as anyone would, and he acts offended.

"What's so funny? I'm strong!" I can hardly understand him, between the lack of Japanese skill, and the fact that I'm laughing so hard and loud I can hardly hear anything at all. He sighs and types into his phone.

[ Well then watch me! I'll show you how strong I am! ]

This isn't going to go well. He's gonna hurt himself for a joke.

"You shouldn't" I say slowly.

"I will!"

[ This joke won't end well, Takao. ]

[ It'll be fine! I really am strong, look! ]

I really don't want to.

Despite my protests, he puts heavy weights on bar and starts to bench press it. Takao, you're great and all but if you grunt at the first one you should take some weight off. I should tell him that.

[ You should take at least a little weight off. How much is this, anyway? ]

"Not much!" He said, trying to still sound cheerful when he's clearly struggling.

[ You're supposed to build up to such weight. ]

"Why?!"

He's sweating already, too. But he was working out a little before this, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. Still, his face is red, he's grunting, I see a vein popping out of his neck. I feel like I should help him but... if he can't then I can't. Might as well try before he really does get hurt, though. I walk behind him and grab the bar and pull up when he pushes up and pull it back onto it's place.

"No." I say. I don't know how to say 'Don't', or 'stop', yet, so we're settling for no.

Takao sighs and stays lying down for a mintue, staring up at the ceiling and looking back at me standing behind him.

"So mean." he mumbles. He reaches his hand back to me and opens it up. I guess he wants the phone. I put it in his hand and he, all while staring at the ceiling acting depressed, typed into it. Skill. I think we may be using that thing too much.

[ You still think I'm strong, right? ]

... I can't tell if he's joking or not. He looks like he might be almost smiling so I think it's a joke but it's so hard to tell right now. I don't know why. I'll say something goofy but answer him at the same time, if he laughs he was joking. And he wasn't joking if he... I don't know, just nods or something.

[ The strongest. ] I say.

He reads it and smiles a bit. Wait which is that, is that joking or not joking? Oh my God, I didn't plan for a simple smile. He's not saying anything, he's just lying down with his eyes closed. He didn't get that tired from the weights did he?

"Takao?"

He unlocks his phone and barely opens his eyes to type into it, then closes them again and flashes the phone at me.

[ You know you can call me Kazunari? ]

That catches me off guard. Isn't it a little personal to call him by his personal name? I've never called a person here by anything but their family name.

"Is that okay?"

His eyes staying closed, he nods and smiles. "Yeah~" he reaches back for the phone.

[ If I open my eyes, will you be blushing? ]

NO. Now I am but I wasn't before the brat.

Takao opens his eyes and jumps up. Stretching dramatically with some theatrical yawn. He smiles sleepily at me and wraps his arms around me, leaning almost all his weight on me, too. At least, I'm assuming this is almost all his weight. This is heavy enough, if he weighs much more he won't be allowed to hug me anymore. He might get too comfortable and break me. I'm mostly supporting him in my thighs, I'm practically squatting as I try to keep his weight and mine on my right leg that's forward right now. My arms are already sore and I'm not even holding him up really. I should work out more often. This hug has been going on for a while, he didn't fall asleep on me, did he?

"Oppa." oops. "Takao." I corrected. I gotta get out of this Korean thing or I'll never learn Japanese.

"Hmm?"

So he is awake. That's good. Or not? How weak am I? If he's awake he must not be putting all his weight on me! I'm so upset, I thought I was tougher. I'm gonna yell at him. Sort of.

[ Why do you weigh so much! It's not fair to us weaklings to lean on us like this! It's rude! ]

Good enough. He'll get it.

"Why aren't you calling me Kazunari? or Kazu? Or Nari?"

I think I get what he's saying. Aww, he believes in me. Or he's trying to challenge me... Because he believes in me aww!

"I don't want to." I say. It took me a while but I think I got it.

Takao laughed. Maybe I didn't.

"That was good. But call me by my first name. "

Okay, I didn't understand that. I only got the 'that was good' part... at least I think. Ah well, I'll just ignore the last part. Wait was 'name' in there? And my? Dang it... okay ignore it.

" You think I'm good? "

With this he was laughing again. He stood up straight, my thighs thank him... and my back and shoulders.. okay so all of me thanks him for stopping the leaning. Anyway, he stands up straight and brushes himself off then reaches for the phone.

[ I'm gonna go shower, you can wait here if you wanna hang out when I'm done. ]

Takao, honey, dear friend of mine. You almost fell asleep leaning on me, we're not gonna hang out much. I'm not even sure he'll be able to stay awake in his shower.

[ Just don't fall or anything, okay? I'm gonna go to bed. ] I answer.

He shrugs his shoulders and gathers some clothes. Turning around, still looking half-asleep, he waves at me and almost runs into the door. I wait until I hear the bathroom door close, and not any sounds of falling or bumping something, to leave and go to my room. Please don't let him fall in the shower.

* * *

I told Takao I could handle getting the food this morning, but I really regret it now. He was right, I have no idea where any of this stuff is. At least he gave me money to buy it with, and it's all stuff I can buy at a store so I don't have to cook. I should probably taste the kimchi first, though. It sounds mean, but I'd be more embarrassed if Takao's food tasted bad than his friends'. I don't care about them, Takao is the one that'll make fun of me for it. Well, Midorima, too, but for separate reasons.

I tried asking a person that was staring at me if they could help, but it was just some creepy 20 year old that wanted to ride the white horse... wait that's a Korean expression isn't it? Maybe it's Japanese, too? Either way, you get it. He thought I was American and wouldn't stop talking to me in English. Like look man, I speak more Spanish than English and that's just because everyone kept telling me to learn English. I do a lot of things out of spite, so far it's working well for me.

I honestly have no idea what bean soup looks like. Or was it bean paste? I know what that is... maybe. I keep thinking I've found it and then it's got pictures of tomatoes and I have to start over. I've been in this one store for like an hour, thank God I decided to leave early just in case. This is getting annoying. I want Momoi suddenly. I don't know why. Or even Aomine... well maybe not him. Kise, I want Kise. Anyone but Midorima or Takao actually. I'll take anyone but those two. The last thing I need is for Takao to say 'I told you so' or Midorima to think I'm incompetent.

Suddenly, I recognized a tall head of purple hair. With some black hair beside it. I know them!

"OPPA!"

Everyone in the store turns around and stares at me, if they already weren't. Oops. I might've said that too loud. But at least I got Mura's attention. I quickly walk over to him with my head down.

"Hi. Will you help me?" I ask.

Himuro looks over at me and must've noticed I'm struggling with asking for help in Japanese, because he reaches into his pocket and pulls a phone out. I don't need to say much so I turn him down with a shake of my head.

"Red bean stew? " I ask.

Murasakibara looked up at me from the candy he was looking at. He pointed towards the canned soups and then resumed what he was doing. Okay I change my mind, give me a phone. I reach my hand out to Himuro and whisper a quick 'sorry' to him.

[ I already looked there! I'm not dumb, I've searched this entire place! I just don't know how to read... ]

Himuro and Murasakibara looked down at me, not in a rude way but just because they're the size of trees, and Mura patted my head. That actually kind of hurt. Himuro walked over to the canned soups and picked two out and brought them over. Oh yeah, go ahead and make it look easy. Mean.

"Thank you." I say trading him his phone for the soups.

I walked over to the counter and payed for it all, with Takao's money. I still need to pay back Kise, too. What can a person that doesn't speak Japanese, or even English, in Japan actually do for a job? And I'm a kid. I'm only a year younger than the guys, but still. I think I'm the same age as Kuroko though...

* * *

This school is intimidating. I can't read anything, so I just walk around looking for a building that might be a basketball area. What if it's inside the regular building? Please don't be, it'd take me even longer to find. What if I find a way to call or text Takao... how do I do that? I don't know his number.. But I know Momoi's! Now all I need is a phone... and hopefully Momoi doesn't hate me. Oh God, I never even apologized to her or thanked her properly or anything. And here I am about to call her just to find someone else. Maybe I should apologize and then ask her! That's good. I'll do that. Now all I need is a phone.

I walk to the library of the school, which I found looking for the gym. I can find a place full of books I can't read but I can't find the one person here that knows me. Wonderful.

There's someone with a phone. Now I just have to sneak over and take it when they aren't looking. Why are they staring at me? Okay look casual. Pretend you can read!

I stand there staring at the pages of a book for like 2 minutes before the chick looks away from me. Finally she gets up to get another book, after 10 more minutes of studying. Which is what I should be doing right now probably. When she gets up I check to see if anyone is around. Okay, coast is clear, and she took her phone with her... I bet she thought I was gonna steal it because I'm foreign. What a bitch. I was only gonna borrow it.

"Sasha-san?"

I jumped and turned around to see a tall guy with sandy hair standing behind me... and wearing a basketball jersey. Wait, so does that mean Takao talks about me? He better make me seem awesome or I'll give him nightmares again.

"Are you looking for Takao?" he asks.

"Umm... where... is Takao?" I heard Takao, so that means he knows him right? Well of course he does, they're on the same team.

"This way." he asnwers slowly.

I hate being treated like this, not because it's rude because I really can't understand him well, but I still feel really dumb.

"Okay."


	8. Chapter 8: Midorima is a Tsun

Okay so for Sasha's appearance :

As for her appearance, she's a bit tan (think Kagami not Aomine you know? ) a little tan but not very dark. She has brown hair and green eyes. And her hair is medium length and she has bangs. She's around 5'5 1/2 or roughly 166 cm which is between 5'5 and 5'6. (5'5 is about 167 cm and 5'5 is ~165. )

Umm. She's very toned. From living on the streets and only eating enough to get the energy she needs, she doesn't take in many extra calories and only really eats cheap vegetables and things easy to steal. (I mean she doesn't exactly have any money.) She has thicker muscle in her legs/thighs/butt and only a slightly toned tummy and arms. She's not very strong in her upper body because she doesn't use it as much lol, from walking just about everywhere, her legs are strong.

I'm trying to think of celebrities to give a better visual soo maybe

thighs/legs/butt - don't roll your eyes at this but Beyonce (but less amazing looking of course) (and no ones butt is as great as that let's be real but it's hard to find any celebrities that have very thick thighs or legs that are muscular you know?

stomach on a good day - Vanessa Hudgens's abs. When I say stomach on a good day, I mean,

1\. When they first meet her (because she had less food) and

2\. When she starts working out often. So sometimes when working out her stomach will looks like Vanessa's.

stomach on a normal/average day - Ashley Tisdale's abs. If you'd really count them as abs, cause it's really nothing.

arms - the best I found that was what I imagined is a girl group member lol. search Solji EXID body and look at her arms in pictures of her performing.

as far as face, an round face or oval shaped face with chubby cheeks. She's still a teen and even though the rest of her is thin I see her with a small double chin and chubby cheeks still. Small lips, wide eyes. A pig nose.

That's the best I can do rn lol.

So just think of her as a human version of a stray cat. Average sized because it was taken care of as a kitten, but now almost nothing but muscle and a natural tough expression. I imagine her with a resting bitch face.

I do want her to gain a bit of weight (she'll be working out with them a lot so I don't see her gaining a lot) but maybe gaining some fat in her arms and/or stomach.

* * *

The gym was barely to the left of where I was. I literally passed it like twice. This blondish guy is kinda nice... I think. We haven't talked at all and it's awkward but that could be perceived as nice. By someone. Somewhere. He tried talking to me a couple times which only made it worse because I couldn't understand him. He simplified his sentence down to Takoa's name and something else, the poor guy has been trying so hard. He's in a basketball uniform so it's not like he has his phone with him. So it's just an awkward walk. Good thing it's so close to the gym. As we walk into the gym I see Takao playing a game with the other guys. I don't see Midorima, I wonder where he is.

" Midorima? " I asked, looking up at him.

He just pointed in the direction of some rooms. I'm guessing the locker rooms or something. I held my finger up to my mouth, telling him to keep quiet. I wanna sneak up on Takao, but it's probably gonna be hard since he's running around everywhere. If only I was Kuroko...

Sneaking behind a ball rack and moving with it to the other side, the sandy-haired guy gave me an odd look and then shrugged his shoulders and walked to his bag on the bleachers. Takao looks like he's concentrating a lot... well not a whole lot, but he seems to be into the game which is good for me! He isn't looking over at me, so I think I'm doing good so far. No how to get to him... I'll just wait until he comes down here and then turns around and goes back that way. Then I can just come up behind him, right? I feel like I'm gonna get run over, though. That won't be fun.

Okay, he's running back the other way... what do I do?

I jump up and run along the side to the other end and tap the guy in front of me to tell him to move.

"Hey, Takao, your friend's here."

NO that's not what I meant.

"Yeah I saw her come in."

Did he just say yeah? Yeah what? He knew I was here, didn't he? Jerk sees everything somehow. How do you say like, as in similar to? Think, think, think. Ah hah!

"Takao!" I yell. "You're like a mom!"

"Why?" he whines.

"You see..." how do you say it... "everything!"

He laughed at me and walked over while the rest of the team just watched us.. I didn't think about interrupting the practice. Why didn't I think about that, of course I would?

"Sorry.." I whisper to Takao. He just smiled and waved at the guys. He led me over to the bleachers and dug in his gym bag and pulled out his phone. He typed into it and showed it to me with a mischievous smile.

[ You're not thinking about Midorima are you? You have to pay attention to me, too, you know? ]

He's doing that thing where he tries to make me blush again isn't he? Meanie. Not gonna work.

[ Well I wasn't thinking about him or you, but now that you say that, I can't help but imagine what he looks like showering. ] I reply.

"Why showering?!"

[ Isn't he in the locker-room? That's what you do in there, isn't it? ]

"But... that's mean." He said pouting. He reached for the phone and typed into it with a fake angry expression.

[ I didn't know you were such a pervert. I should be more careful around you, huh? Maybe I should warn the guys, too.]

I jerked it out of his hand at the last part and stuck my tongue out at his stupid snarky face.

[ You don't have to do that. ] I say.

"Yeah, I do." he says, 'casually' turning on his heel toward his teammates on the court and whistling.

[ Please don't. ]

He looks back at me and snickers.

"Okay." he says with a thumbs up. He looks over at the locker-rooms and laughs. "There's our Shin-chan!"

I turn around to see the green-haired giant leave the room and walk over to the two of us.

"Shin-chan! Sasha-chan brought us food!"

Did he just call me Sasha-chan? That's no fun, I want a nickname. I think Midorima's is just his personal name shortened but still. Sa-chan would be funner than Sasha-chan. And I think he got the other guys' attention. They're staring over here now, I'm glad I brought them food, too. I hope they're not staring because he called me Sasha-chan. Does he call me that when I'm not here? That guy knew me so he must've talked about me at least once. Or Midorima did but I doubt that. I still wanna know what he says about me.

[ When did you start calling me Sasha-chan? ] I ask.

"Hmm? Oh." he takes the phone and answers me while looking up in between words to wave at Midorima... for what reason, I don't know. It only makes typing slower and now everyone's coming over. He's gonna say something embarrassing isn't he? Lord, please don't let him say something embarrassing.

[ Why wouldn't I call you Sasha-chan? We sleep under the same roof and even share a bed occasionally. ] Now they're all blushing or assuming gossip-mom poses.

[ Listen you jerk! When you say it like that, it sounds bad! I know you did that on purpose! We shared a bed once to watch scary movies, then I went to my own bed! ]

His teammates sighed and nodded, realizing he was just messing around and there wasn't anything interesting going on.

[ Yeah, but you made me wake up and walk you to your room you were so scared. You could've just told me to sleep on the floor if you were **that** scared. ]

[ I'm not gonna do that! And you can't blame me for being scared. I kept hearing something walking around outside the door. ]

[ You mean the cat? ]

[ What cat?! You don't have a cat. ]

[ Yeah we don't technically, but my sister has been hiding one in her room and letting it out at night. My dad wakes up first and he pretends not to know. ]

That's... that's actually adorable.

[ Whatever. Here, give out the food. The soup is for Midorima and the kimchi is for us to share, but the rest is just random stuff for the team. ]

He takes out the kimchi and two cans of red bean soup and then tosses the bags at his teammates.

"Here, get what you want." he says.

He pulls on my shirt and nods his head towards the top of the bleachers. Are we allowed to eat there? I guess he'd know. We walk up the steps and I keep wondering about Midorima. Does he like me yet? This may be annoying but you know what's more annoying? Guys that don't give friendships a chance because of sun signs. I wanted to impress him so I studied as much astrology stuff as possible, and let me tell you buddy, there's more than you'd think. And I also didn't think about how I wouldn't be able to actually impress him with this stuff, because I can't actually speak to him. I should've thought about it more. Anyway, I asked Takao for Midorima's birthday and he didn't know the time but he knew the date, so I got his little planets and mine. Based on a pure guess, I think he might have a Capricorn ascendant, he appears very Capricorny.

I have both our planet positions and stuff (at least what I could do without the times) and I think we're not that bad of a match. Our friendship would be pretty okay actually. His sun may be in Cancer but his moon is in Leo and that's compatible with my Aquarius moon, okay? And I'm just saying I deserve a chance.

Sitting here and eating this kimchi is reminding me of Korea... if I keep thinking about horoscopes I might not miss it as much. Maybe I should go back. Japanese is a lot harder than Korean, I'll probably never speak Japanese well at all. Or maybe not even conversationally. I don't want to leave but at the same time I don't want to be here. I want to stay for Takao and Momoi and Midorima if he ever decides to finally like me! And the rest, too. I just want to stay with them, I haven't had any type of friends in a long time. I had two friends in Elementary, and then one in middle school. But clearly, now in high school, I don't have any but Takao. If he counts. He might just be a nice guy, he might not even really like me. It could be fake and he just felt bad for me. But he did chase me down... he could just be a really nice guy?

I've never had a group of friends before, though. And I've always wanted a whole group of friends. With different personalities, I'd never be bored and always satisfied. I'd never have to not have anyone to speak to. Back then, if I were mad at a friend or a friend mad at me, I was alone completely. But if I were friends with a whole group that liked each other, I don't think I'd ever be lonely unless that all hated me at the same time. Which might happen if I hide more stuff from them, I knew the kid a day but for some reason Takao looked mad at me. But he really is nice so I think it's just that he was upset he couldn't help me or something.

And I really wanna know Midorima more. Takao says he's nicer than he pretends to be. He calls him a tsundere. I think it may be true, because even though he left early the day they met me and the day I left Momoi's.. or Aomine's, he looked at least a little relieved to see me okay. Maybe? When I saw him on the basketball court, he didn't really ignore me. He kinda did at first when he learned I was a Gemini, but when I wanted to play with him, he helped me shoot better.

I glance over at Takao to see him shoveling kimchi into his mouth like he's starving. Well, he might feel like it, he did just work out and I'm not sure what he ate before. Shouldn't he be having protein or something right now, though? To build muscle or something?

[ Takao, maybe you should save room in your stomach for more protein filled foods. If you build your muscle up, you can lift those weights in your room without hurting yourself like last time. ]

"Don't say that so loud!"

I cocked my head to the side. "What?"

[ Don't say that so loud, they'll hear you! ]

[ Takao, I didn't say anything loud. The phone did. And if they were to hear, they'd have better hearing than you have eyesight. Which I don't even think is possible since you have the eyes of a parent. ]

I think Midorima is enjoying our exchange. And he got through the first can of soup so I think he might be starting to like me. I should up my funnyness. I don't think I can do that, though, I'm already so funny as it is...

[ I don't have the eyes of a parent. And how come you never stare at me like you are at Shin-chan? ]

He's doing the thing again.

Midorima looked over at us and slapped Takao on the side of his head. "Don't be so stupid."

Ha. I took the phone from Takao while he was pouting and thought of something to bond with Midorima over. I don't want to appear desperate, but I am so I should just be honest, huh?

[Midorima-kun, did you know we're actually more compatible than you think? ] Let's be friends now please.

"What do you mean?"

I understood what. Let's pretend that means he's interested.

[ Well, your sun is in Cancer, and mine in Gemini. But your moon is in Leo and mine's in Aquarius so really it's like we're meant to be friends or something. ]

That was desperate.

[ Not that I researched you haha. That'd be crazy, I mean because you didn't like that I was a Gemini.. but one website gave us a 79% love compatibility which is like a 200% friendship compatibility. Kinda. ]

" I see..."

I made it awkward.

"What's our compatibility Sa-chan?"

That's better. But what'd he say.

"Huh?"

[ What's our compatibility? ]

I never looked him up actually.

[ I never looked at ours. ] I say.

Takao whines and pouts. Then goes on about how mean Midorima is for something, I don't know what.

"She was my friend first!" he whines.

[ I didn't look you up because we're already friends, Takao. ] I say.

He stops and straightens up again before grabbing both Midorima and I and hugging us tightly. Oh so now he's stronger.

"Cuties." he says.

Midorima pushes him away and yells at him, clearly annoyed, while I sit back and watch the two argue. Yeah, I think Midorima is a tsun. Speaking of Midorima, he stands up and pushes his glasses up. Grabbing the other can of his soup he starts to walk down the steps of the bleachers.

"Sasha-san, Takao!"

Does this mean I'm getting a chance? That's all it took? Really? I could've just lied and said I was a Pisces or Capricorn or something.


	9. Chapter 9: Everything is Peaceful

Chapter 9 : Everything's Fine.

No really, everything is peaceful and nice. And we see Momoi again.

* * *

Midorima is like a plain cover and huge lock on the side so you can't see what's going on inside him. It's very frustrating. I still have no idea if he's really giving me a chance or not but he's just keeping quiet. At least he didn't make me peddle him around in a cart. I think I should just show him his entire list and then show him mine and make up some voting technique that might make our friendship look better. Wait that's a good idea!

"Midorima-kun." I say.

He looks up at me with the same bored and slightly annoyed expression as normal and raises one eyebrow at me. "Yes?"

I get out the paper that I wrote it all on, his on one side and mine on the other, and move closer to him to show him.

Mido-kun Me

Sun Cancer Gemini

Moon Leo Aquarius

Mercury Cancer Gemini

Venus Leo Cancer

Mars Libra Libra

Pluto Sagittarius Sagittarius

Lilith Virgo Scorpio

[ Okay, so that's not very compatible but Cancer and Gemini is like medium compatibility and then Leo and Aquarius is a really good compatibility. And Scorpio and Virgo can't be that bad of a match really right? ]

Alright, so Gemini and Cancer isn't supposed to even be a medium good match but I've had Cancer friends before and I deserve a chance, damn it!

Midorima reaches for the phone and hands the paper back to me.

I also wrote down our compatibility done by some astrology website.

 _Conjunction Mercury - Venus_

 _Positive aspect: A relationship which will be agreeable, they will like to speak to each other, have a good intellectual understanding, their tastes will be very similar, they will like to share their feelings with each other._

Oh look we're great together.

 _Square Venus - Saturn_

 _Challenging aspect: This can bring difficulties to the union. Although difficult, it's an aspect that is often found in long term couples. Over the long term, it can be very difficult for Venus to feel natural and comfortable in Saturn's presence, as Saturn may at times appear too austere, cold, or distant, and can put Venus ill at ease._

We can work with that.

 _Square Mercury - Jupiter_

Negative aspect: Not always the best of unions. They don't always share the same ideas, their tastes are different and this leads to a few tense moments due to lack of understanding.

We're both mature, we'll be okay.

 _Opposition Venus - Neptune_

 _Challenging aspect: The attraction is certainly there, but the relationship can lose its innocence quite easily. Venus misunderstands the other and may end up feeling as if they were the only one who really was in love. Neptune might be unfaithful or might feel forced to lie in order to keep Venus happy. Venus seems unequipped to face reality when it comes to the Neptune person._

Astrology is dumb anyway.

 _Conjunction Jupiter - Uranus_

 _Positive aspect: This union can be favorable, if the two mutually respect each other. They both like their independence, their freedom of thought and action._

 _Sextile Mars - Pluto_

 _Positive aspect: Enormous physical passion. The sexual attraction is intense and insistent. They want to be around each other as much as possible. Their sexual relationship evolves with time, instead of dissolves._

 _Trine Venus - Pluto_

 _Positive aspect: Great passionate affair, very intense and transforming. They feel that the relationship forces them to grow._

Never mind. Astrology is real and we will be the best of friends and he will regret the day he cursed all Geminis because I am amazing. Why can't you raise the volume of your voice in your head? That's weird. Oh he's done.

[ Gemini and Cancer have low compatibility, don't try to lie to me over something as simple as this. ] oops... [ and you being this desperate for my attention only makes you seem more like Kise. ] ouch.

"Mido-kuuuuunnnn. Rude."

He sighed and handed the phone back. The battery is low, poor Takao, I've had his phone for 30 minutes and it's at like 30%. It was at 60-something when I got it, but still. Maybe I should get my own from somewhere. I had one in Korea because I found it in the trash, they threw it out with the sim and battery in it, the sim card didn't work but the battery did and I still got to play on it.

[ Can we please be friends? Give me a week I'll have you loving me! ] Maybe that wording wasn't the best but I'll prove myself. Just you wait.

Midorima sighed and reached for the phone.

[ If I give you a week will you leave me alone after that? ]

It's working it's working it's working.

[Well if that's what you want but I doubt you will after you have a taste of the fantasticness that is... my friendship. ] It's hard to be dramatic and fun through a computer voice but I think I did okay.

[Just don't try too hard. ] he responded.

BOOM friend made. All who didn't believe in me should bow before me. Just saying.

"Kazu-kun!" I yelled.

Takao turned around and I gave him a thumbs up and pointed at Midorima, he responded with a short laugh and a thumbs up right back. This day hasn't been that bad actually. Yay for me. And Midorima because he is about to be spoiled with compliments and attention. Wait, I don't think he'd like that. But I really am like that with all my friends. Even when I was a kid, it's not my fault all the friends I make are so ethereal. It's just nature. It's like I'm a cool planet and all my friends are stars that have their huge gravitational pull and so I'm just always making the best friends. Never any dumps. I'm very lucky. But wait, wouldn't I not be very healthy if I were actually surrounded by suns? I should read more.

* * *

I still fell like I shouldn't be staying at his house like this. It's like I'm intruding. Takao's dad is still feeling guilty. If he doesn't let it go soon he's gonna damage his brain or something, I gotta do something to make him let this go. What if I call him dad? No wait I don't think I should do that. That could go wrong.

You know who I should really focus on, though? Momoi. Something made her cry that day and then she must've heard that I was homeless. I hope she's okay. I feel selfish for not thinking about her more. That was Aomine's house wasn't it? Why was she at his place if she's dating Kuroko? Maybe she just wanted to hang out with her friend but she could've taken me to her house? I wonder if she's mad at me. Why would she be mad, maybe she's grossed out that a homeless girl slept in the same house as her. She doesn't seem like that type but I should prepare myself for everything. I wonder if Takao has her number..

He's working out right now, apparently he has to work out before dinner from now on. He said that it was a new rule but I don't know who on Earth gave him that rule because he said it wasn't his coach. Maybe it's his own rule. I hope he's okay. What if he dropped a heavy weight on himself and passed out. I should go check on him and ask him if he has Momoi's number.

Three quick knocks on his door and he says a strained 'Come in'. Yup, he's working too hard.

"Takao..." he's seriously going to hurt himself one day.

He put the weights down and gave me a wide smile. Ew he's sweaty. No hug for him.

[ You should be more careful. ] I say.

[ Don't doubt my strength. I'm great at this, watch! ]

"Takao, no."

He sighs and flops onto his bed. He stared at the ceiling turned to look at me. "Kazu-kun~"

"What?" I ask.

"You called me Kazu-kun earlier. "

Ohhh. I think I get it.

[ Do you want me to call you Kazu-kun more often? ] I ask.

"Call me Kazu-chan!"

[ Isn't that what your sister calls you? ]

"Then call me Nari-chan! Wait that sounds girly."

"Okay Nari-chan!"

"Wait no I change my mind!"

"Nari-chan~" I sang.

"You're mean." he pouted.

It's so cool that I understand most of this. This is so cool. Oh my gosh. This is fun. But I want to talk to Momoi..

"Can I.." how do you say call? Okay, how about text? Crap. "Momoi." I need a walking translator honestly this is pathetic.

"You wanna talk to Momoi?" he asked.

"Yes?" I heard Momoi, so I should yes, right?

"Shin-chan has her number. I'll ask for it."

Wait if she wanted to talk to me, wouldn't she have called by now? Oh my gosh, isn't something wrong with her mom? How selfish is it to think that she would be worried about me right now? Why didn't I think of that? If my mom was sick or something and some stranger thought I was more worried about them I'd hate them. No no no. Takao don't call. He's calling Mirdorima. I reach out and grab the phone from him without thinking about it.

"Kazu!" I didn't mean to shout. I think I just got excited. "Uh.. Sorry."

He looked shocked, for obvious reasons, but shook it off and gave an awkward laugh. I didn't know Takao knew how to be awkward. Cool.

"You know, I was about to hand it to you anyway." he said.

[ Sorry. I got excited. I change my mind, I don't want you to call Momoi. ]

[ Why'd you change your mind? ]

Don't ask that.

[ I just think she has more to think about right now. ] I answered, clearly uncomfortable.

[ That's okay. Are you alright, though? You got that little sad look for a second. ]

I don't have a little sad look.

[ What little sad look? Nevermind. Are you being safe? ] Good girl change the subject. So smooth.

[ Safe with what exactly? ] he said.

What else?

[ The weights. Are you being careful with them. You know if you hurt yourself, we won't find out until dinner time when you don't come down. ]

He laughed and walked back over to them with the phone. [Well if you hung out in here more often, you'd know. ]

[ Do I not hang out in here enough? ] I asked.

[ Well you might get lonely is all. You do know you can come in here whenever you want, right? ]

I guess that makes sense. [ Alright, you might regret saying that, though. I'll be in here all the time now. I like other people's presences and I'll only leave when you sleep or study. ]

Just try to convince him that's not a good idea and he might change his mind. I don't want to annoy him and I know I will if he doesn't just tell me some boundaries. Why can't I think for myself sometimes?

[ Why would you leave for me to study? We can still talk during that time. ]

[ No we can't! You're gonna get bad grades, what's wrong with youl? You need to study by yourself, because Kazu, I love you dear friend, but if one of your DNA donors comes up here and sees you slacking off in school to talk to me and I get in trouble, I will kill you. ]

I think I scared him. I was mostly joking. I wouldn't actually kill him, that should be obvious. Who really takes that seriously?

[That's so scary! Are you trying to intimidate me? You're trying to be like Shin-chan aren't you? It's a shame he can't be as adorable as you. Those chubby cheeks really betray your fake anger. ]

[ They're not that chubby! ] They really aren't. Like, barely. Only a little chubby.

[Well I would hope not, but still. Did you just say you loved me? ]

[ I love all of my friends, don't get all smirky.]

He pouted and waved his hand at me. Picking up two of the weights in each hand he started his workout again and I just stood there awkwardly. See, there's the problem with me being in here all the time. What am I supposed to do?

[ I'm bored already. ] I say.

Takao looked back and set the weights down to answer me. See, I interrupt.

[ Just watch how great my muscles look. ] he said.

[ But that's boring Kazu. ]

"Why are women so cruel?" he mumbled. [ I was joking, mean. You wanna go somewhere? ]

Where would we go it's about to be dinner time? I don't think he thinks these things through.

[ It's almost dinner, we can't just leave. ]

[ Yeah, we can go to the park or the basketball court. My mom hasn't even started cooking yet and Dad's not even home. ]

It does sound funner than just watching his arms shake and quiver from the weights. He really does need to slow down. I nod my head and watch his response. If he looks disappointed even a little then I'll just change my mind. He might want to stay here and lift his too-heavy weights. Why doesn't he listen about that? Show off. I think he's still joking about it but the joke should stop before he pulls something. I actually think he already has because when he was messing with his books, he made a face when he picked one up. And then he didn't do much with that arm. Dumby.

He jumps up and grabs his basketball from beside his bed, oh my gosh does he sleep with that thing? I doubt it but I should tease him about it later. He doesn't seem upset or anything so I guess we'll just go. I hope no one else is there, though. Like what if some gang guys are there and mess with him? Or me? Well I can handle myself but Takao is so nice I don't know if he could beat someone up. Or what if there are girls there and they don't like me? I was afraid of that at his school, too. Honestly, Takao and Midorima are both really handsome, I was nervous they'd have fan girls or something watching them play but luckily there were none in the gym. And none gave me mean looks leaving the school with them, either.

We run down the stairs, me laughing because of how energetic Takao always is. I love how happy he is, it's hard to find someone who doesn't bore me. Well he kinda just did but not for real.

"Bye mom, we're going to play!" he shouted as we ran out the door, his mom yelling a quick "Bye, be safe." behind us.

* * *

I wasn't expecting this and I'm not happy about it. Kise is fine, I like him, that's nothing. Midorima, alright. Mura and Himuro, also fine. But with Kagami and Kuroko came Aomine and Momoi and now I'm hiding behind a bush. As soon as we turned the corner and saw the court, Takao excitedly pointed at how all his friends were there and how happy he was was cute and all but... since they couldn't see me when I saw them, of course I had to hide. I didn't think about it, I just did it. Momoi looks so pretty, and she looks happy, so I guess that's a good sign. Or a bad one because maybe she's the type to hide when she's upset. Can I pray that she's just happy and okay?

Takao had gotten their attention and they all were looking over when he noticed I wasn't by his side. He turned around and looked a couple yards behind him, where I am now, hiding behind this pathetic bush.

"Hey, Sa-chan! What are you doing?"

Why on Earth would you yell like that? I am 6 or 7 feet away from you and you're yelling like I'm on the court. He's trying to embarrass me isn't he? It's working and I'm gonna punch him. I slowly emerge from the bush and try to hold my head high and pretend that I was tying my shoe or something. I try not to look at Momoi... or Aomine. He's kinda scary and he seems close to Momoi. Plus he's the one that chased me down like some police dog chasing a druggie. He kinda looks like a police dog actually, how is that possible? That's really weird.

Walking over to the basketball court was awkward for me. I don't know if Takao noticed, he seemed too excited but he did put his arm on my back like a lazy half hug so maybe he noticed. It's hard to tell with him, that smile is suspicious honestly. Maybe if I pretend I'm comfortable and not super nervous it won't be awkward. Okay, so I'll just act like I'm not totally scared of Aomine and Momoi. And Kuroko, too, he's too quiet. Actually, I'm pretty scared of them all in different ways but let's focus on Momoi and Aomine right now.

I hopped a bit and waved to Midorima.

"Mido-chan!" I yelled.

Takao must've found Midorima's annoyed look hilarious because he cackled and waved at him as well.

"Shin-chan! We missed you! Sasha wouldn't stop talking about how handsome you are!" Takao shouted.

Why'd my name come up? I heard talking. Takao, are you talking shit?

I looked up at Takao and cocked my head to the side trying to signal that I wanna know what the hell he's saying about me but he just laughs and continues to walk.

Kise was happy to see me, because he ran up to us and hugged me, dragging me along to the court. Who needs legs when you have over-excited and very strong friends. As bad as it may sound, I'd totally be fine with them all carrying me around. But not like this. Kise still has his arms around me but he's trapping my arms with them and so I'm bent over and walking sideways while he drags me along with a huge smile on his face.

"She's back! Hey, how come you think Midorima is handsome? Am I not handsome?"

Wait what? Am I handsome? Midorima? Takao! I got out of Kise's grip and ran up behind Takao and jumped to hit the back of his head.

"Ow!" he whined. "Sa-chan! Shin-chan, stop rubbing off on her!" he turned to me. "Why'd you do that?"

"Midorima's handsome?"

"Oh, you understood that? Oops... " he rubbed the back of his head and tried acting innocent so I stomped my foot and pulled on her arm until I could get the tall bastard down enough to put my arm around his neck.

"So violent."

Midorima had an almost smile on his face and looked at Takao.

"You can't deny that you deserve it." Midorima said.

" What kind of friend?! I didn't introduce you two so you could gang up on me!"

Kise was cackling behind us and making exaggerated motions with his hands trying to break us up. The entire scene probably looked hilarious and Kagami was laughing. Aomine was about to but he looked like he was trying to remain serious, and Momoi was just smiling warmly like a sweetheart.

I got done "choking" Takao and turned to see Momoi standing off with Kuroko. Aomine and Kise were talking about something and when I nodded to Aomine, he nodded back but nothing else.

I walked over to Momoi and awkwardly waved at her, for some reason. Wait why'd I do that? She's right in front of me. I'm so dumb.

She giggled and came over and hugged me. Momoi you're great and all but you're lucky I'm not shorter, or your boobs would suffocate me. They're pressed against my stomach and honestly, I feel bad for the girl. How sore must she be. I should get her a nice bra. That'd be a good present. Poor girl probably never finds good cute ones. And does it not hurt to have them pressed against something like that all the time? Does this happen every time she hugs someone? I've never had boobs bigger than a B, which is what they are now, and I just wonder sometimes. I'm honestly pretty grateful for my small chest.

"Are you okay? " she pulled away and asked me.

"I'm okay." I say in my broken Japanese. I tried giving her an okay sign with my fingers just in case she couldn't understand me but she just giggled and said something about me being cute. Which is annoying. I don't wear shoes with 2 inch lifts in them to be seen as cute anytime I do something with my hands. I talk with my hands, too, what am I gonna do when I can speak Japanese better and hold conversations at least a little. I'll be using my hands then, too, and Takao is gonna make fun of me I know it.

"That's good. Is your Japanese getting better?" she asked.

Barely because I hardly understood that. "Only a little. Barely." I say.

She nods and smiles up at me. I feel so tall, really I'm only an inch taller than her, but these lifts I forgot I had are magnificent and they're my new favorite. I'm not even that much taller than her now, though. If we just stood next to each other there'd hardly be a difference but with her standing in front of me, I feel taller. I think it's that small bit I have to tilt my head to look at her, but it's only a little. I guess it's easy to feel tall when you're normally shorter than everyone around. Takao keeps picking on me for my height, even though I have average height, and it got worse when he found out I wear insoles. "Sasha weren't you taller earlier?" "Sasha regular shoes don't do that." "Sasha you wear insoles don't you?" "Aww how cute you're like 5'2, aren't you?" "Are you trying to look tougher?" Like hey man, you're not that tall. Takao is 5'10, that's only an inch above average. And I'm 5'5 not 5'2. Well not technically but it rounds up to 5'5 and that's what matters.

" You look short." I say. I takes me forever to remember words like that. But once I got it I got it. I think I'm getting good actually, when the conversation is slow.

She laughed and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Getting too good." she said. "Weren't you shorter?"

"I'm sorry.. I don't."

She stopped me before I could continue. "It's okay. She pulled out her phone and handed it to me after typing into it.

[ Weren't you shorter before? ]

...

[ You're not as great as I thought at first, Momoi-san. ]

She laughed loudly at this and I looked over to see Kuroko smiling. I forgot about him, my bad.

[ Takao already makes fun of me, and both of you are short so neither of you can say anything about my height. ] I say. I'm trying to include Kuroko.

They both laughed at this, though Kuroko's was a much shorter and quieter one, I still made him laugh. Ha.

"He does?" Momoi asked.

[ I said if he didn't stop, I'd get Mura to beat him up but he just laughed more. ]

[ So you're having fun? ]

[ Yeah, Takao's family is nice. I'm sorry I've been such a burden on you. Are you okay? Last time I saw you, you were crying. ]

Crap, she might not want to talk about it.

[ Yeah I'm okay. My mom was sick but it turns out it was just a seasonal thing and no big deal. She went to the hospital because she passed out with a fever but she's okay now. She really just needed rest and good nutrition haha. ]

Thank God she's okay. Poor Momoi, she's so sweet.

[ That's good. Hey, I have a question. ]

She looked at me curiously.

"Yeah, Sasha-chan?"

[ Have you ever noticed Aomine resembles a police dog? He chased me down and when I was thinking about it earlier I realized that. ]

With that she laughed louder than she had the entire time I'd been here and yelled over at Aomine about how dog like he was. It's pretty funny to watch and when I looked over at Takao and waved, he looked happy for me. He waved at me and got the others' attention, which was everyone but Aomine and Kise, and started waving at me. We're on the same court, just across from each other, there's no need for all that. Mura lazily waved and Himuro gave me a short wave with a small smile but Midorima just told Takao to knock it off. Okay, so this isn't that bad.


	10. Chapter 10 : Aomine Isn't THAT Bad

Lol so far we have one vote for Kise and Takao to both be with Sasha. Yes polygamy is a thing lol, I just wasn't expecting that.

* * *

They played for a while, while Momoi and I sat and watched. Takao was just enjoying the game but Kagami seemed to be taking it really seriously. And Aomine actually. I was right to be scared of Aomine at first, he's really intimidating. I saw him play that one time, but then I was scared of all of them and a little tired, I just wasn't paying attention to who the scariest might be. I might've even thought Mura but after only knowing them for like a week and holding a conversation with 4, including Momoi, Mura definitely isn't the scariest. He seems a bit too chill, or childish. Scary if he threw a tantrum for sure, though.

They all look at least a little tired, Takao looks like he's about to die, but he's playing well and keeping up well too. As a joke I started cheering for him earlier and he was so surprised he lost the ball. I'm sorry I didn't mean to. Then Kise said something about me cheering for Takao and not him, but whatever. Momoi and I are having a pretty nice conversation. She asked about my hobbies and when I told her I didn't really have any she insisted on naming things I could pick up. Basketball was in all caps of course.

[ I like dancing, I guess. But I'm not strong enough for ballet or anything haha. ] I say.

[ You've got great muscles! Your legs are so thick and sexy! I'm jealous, I'm stick thin, minus my boobs. ]

[ Yeah minus the watermelons on your chest, how on Earth do you breath? ] I ask.

* * *

We spent an hour like that, the guys playing their game and Momoi and I talking and laughing. At least she's not mad at me, or she's good at hiding it. But I don't see her as that type... Plus! Her mom is okay which is awesome and it means I don't have to awkwardly pat anyone. I'm so bad at comforting people. The best part is that Momoi doesn't need comfort, though. She's so sweet and scary.

Right when Takao was about to come over for a break, his mom started calling him. Damn she's got good timing. I pick up phone and turn the volume up to get his attention. He's messing with Midorima right now, which will probably end in him being kicked. Mido really is fun.

"Kazu-chan!" I yell.

The two turn around to look at me and when they see the phone Midorima sighs and lets Takao's shirt go. His mom might have gotten a mother sense that her kid was about to get his butt kicked. Or it's time for dinner. Or he's in trouble. I hope he's not in trouble, that'd be so awkward. He runs over and takes the phone right on the last ring.

"I missed it by a hair! Sa-chan, why didn't you answer?" he pouts.

[ What would I do? ]

"Who's phone is that?" he asks.

"Satsuki sestra." Look at how much I'm talking without a translator this is so cool. I have the world's worst headache but I'm so happy.

"Hey... Sasha." Takao started. Why is he smiling like that? " You look like you're about to explode or something." he laughed.

"What?" Why's he laughing? What a mood killer. I was so excited and now I'm lost again. Time to study more.

Momoi saw my confusion and hurriedly typed into her phone to explain.

[ He said you look like you might burst. Because you were so excited looking. Like you couldn't contain yourself. ] Momoi said.

Oohhh. Mean!

I reach over and slap him, lightly of course since Mido beats him up enough, over the head. How does he laugh for such a long time. He's gonna burst.

"Kazu."

"Why'd you have to hit me?" He said rubbing his head.

"I'll call you Takao."

"No! We just got past that." he whined.

Ha. Take that.

"Okay!" I say cheerfully.

While Takao calls his mom back, Momoi just stares at my chest. What is she doing?

"Uh.. unnie. What are you doing?" I ask.

[ It's just... how can someone have the top half of a 12 year old boy and the bottom half of a porn star? Your chest is as flat as a landing strip. ]

Yay! Playful banter! My turn.

[ Your chest is so big a plane could crash into it. And at least with big hips I won't fall over. You'd be so easy to beat in a fight, you've got two 10lb weights on your chest and nothing anywhere else. ]

I win. I hope.

Momoi stares at me for a while with a somewhat shocked look on her face. Kuroko looks similarly shocked. For that pregnant pause, it seemed like I had offended her but she laughed soon enough, right when I was about to apologize actually.

"That was good." she says in between breaths.

* * *

Takao said his mom wanted him to go pick his sister up because she couldn't. He insisted I come but honestly... no offence to him or his sister or anything, but I really don't want to. I feel like I spend too much time with him. I don't think it annoys him just yet, but if we continue to be stuck to each other like this we'll end up hating each other. It's a real worry, okay.

So I told him I wanted to stay behind and hang out for a while. He said he'd come back to get me for dinner but I told him I could get back on my own. Which of course meant, "I'll probably get scared and make Midorima do it." to Takao because he told Midorima to have fun walking me home. Thanks for the stab to my pride. I could make it back, but whatever. Really appreciate the faith in me.

The game is over in a while and people are starting to leave. Midorima walked to the other side of the court to leave before he turns to look at me. He jerked his head to the side telling me to hurry up. Midorima doesn't like me much and I really don't feel like hanging out with him either. I kinda just want to be lying down in bed, curled up, watching the kids shows that come on in the mornings. And I think Momoi wants me to hang out with her more. She keeps staring and waving at me to come back over. I literally just got up and walked to Midorima.

I sigh and walk back over to Momoi, holding my finger up to Midorima to tell him to wait a minute. He's gonna get impatient and leave me, isn't he?

"Yes?" I ask.

I hope I don't hurt her feelings, but I seriously think Midorima will leave me. Glancing back at him to see him standing with his arms crossed impatiently only makes this feeling worse.

"Can't we take you back? Let's go eat somewhere together!" Momoi says excitedly.

Calm down I can hardly understand you. I actually just can't understand you at all.

"What?"

She laughed and took her phone out.

[ We want you to come eat with us! We'll take you back to Takao's! He'd be okay with it, right? ] she asked.

Maybe? [ Can I call him? ]

She nods and I run over to Midorima to ask for his phone. He sighs and hands me his phone when I reach out with a smile. I feel kinda bad but this guy should really work on his patience. Maybe he should try yoga. He's into that spiritual stuff, right? I don't know and I'm too scared to ask. Maybe I should just show up to his house with two yoga mats or something. Either way, I should hurry up and ask Takao before Mido gets even more annoyed.

{ Kazu! Can I hang out with Momoi for dinner? She said they can bring me back to your house afterwards. Pretty please! } I asked. It gets really annoying having to translate things then copy and paste them. If I keep this up, Midorima and Takao will both be finding random phrases saved in their phone. Like, "how do I tell time?" or "why can't I pronounce Japanese words to save my life it's literally one of the easiest things or at least it should be so am I defective?" or recently "Am I defective, Kazu-chan?" which I accidentally sent to his phone from his phone, which is apparently a thing that can happen, last night.

{ Do you not like spending time with me?! How mean. I guess you can hang out with other people, but I won't pretend I'm not jealous, okay? See you later, HAVE FUN! }

He's so embarrassing. I guess that's a yes. An annoying yes but a yes. At least it didn't take him long to answer. I turn to Midorima and type into the phone, before handing it to him and running off.

[ I'm hanging out with Momoi! You don't have to walk me home anymore. Be careful! ]

Midorima sighed upon reading it and began walking. "Waited around for nothing." he mumbled to himself.

* * *

* At a random restaurant with Momoi and Aomine*

While walking here with these two I started to think about something. What if Takao's family thinks it's rude of me to not even eat there? They're letting me stay at their house like this and then I go off and eat with someone else.. Maybe it's no big deal at all but I still worry. I think if it would offend anyone Takao would at least tell me no or hint at it or something. But he really just teased me, so maybe it won't.

The restaurant looks pretty normal, sorta like a cafe really. With cute little booths and tables colored red. It's still a little embarrassing that I'm here with Aomine and Momoi looking like a third wheel, but at least I can't understand when people are whispering about me. Momoi is really sweet it makes me want to punch myself and Aomine makes me want to punch him. This is a very violent little trio we have. Maybe I can show off my basketball knowledge. 'Hey Aomine, Momoi, I know what a scoreboard is. Beat that sporty.' No I can't say that nevermind.

How do you impress these people? Well, I could start by speaking their language... no that's too hard. I miss Takao already this isn't fair.

[ So Sasha! What do you want to eat? ] Momoi asked me out of nowhere. I actually just wasn't paying enough attention but still.

Crap. Why didn't I prepare for this question. Maybe I can just say I'm not hungry... would that be rude? Plus it'd be a lie since I really am hungry. If I say I'm not hungry and then my stomach growled that'd be embarrassing... nope not doing that. But what if I take too long to decide on something and then when I finally do, they're out or something? What if I do something embarrassing. What if I burp or fart. Takao doesn't mind but I don't these two that way. Midorima definitely minds. I need to know these things.

"You're taking too long" Aomine whined.

"Shutup, Ahomine, she can't even understand you! Don't be rude." Momoi snapped.

[ Umm.. just pick something for me? ] I typed.

It seems to be a good enough answer for Momoi because she just smiles and looks around for a waiter.

She ends up getting me some type of spicy ramen with shrimp. How did she know? She really is a goddess isn't she? This is heaven isn't it? No wait... this can't be heaven... maybe I'm gonna die later and she's here for that. Cause there is no way this is heaven.

* * *

The meal went by uneventfully. We all just sat and ate, with the occasional simple question or something from Momoi. Aomine, who was sitting next to me because Momoi threatened him, would look at me from the corner of his eyes a few times then looked back to his food, not saying anything. Finally, Aomine actually speaks, he was starting to scare me.

" So are you and Takao getting along well? " he asked.

It took me a minute but I actually understood it... I think?

" Zu-chan... is really nice. He's good." I feel like I'm talking to my grandma about a guy. 'he's cool grandma he's cool whatever'. I hate this.

I feel like he doesn't actually care, though. Did Momoi make him ask me that?

"Aomine... what is it?"

He looked confused before I tried to clarify what I meant.

" Just ask." I say.

He laughs and looks at Momoi.

"See? She didn't want me to filter my comments." he said.

"Aomine, she doesn't know what you're gonna ask, how can you say she won't care?" Momoi sighed.

Aomine chuckled and looked back to me. "You wanna know what I wanted to ask?"

I nodded my head and my eyes widened in anticipation.

Aomine cleared his throat and leaned back to face me a bit more.

"Are you and Takao fucking? " he asked.

I don't know exactly what he said but people are giving us weird looks and Momoi looks angry and ashamed so it can't be good.

"Takao... and ... me... what? "

"Don't ask him, Sasha-chan!" Momoi said.

He laughed and picked up his phone that was laying on the table.

[ Do you and Takao use protection or are we gonna be expecting a little Taosha baby? ]

.

.

.

.

"Shut your whore mouth!"

* * *

[ I'm sorry that lady kicked us out, Momoi. ]

She waved her hand and smiles. "It's okay. It was Aomine's fault anyway."

"Hey! She called me a whore!" Aomine complained.

"You've been called worse, I assure you." Momoi waved him off.

We're currently walking back to Momoi's house. Apparently, Aomine has somewhere else to be and it's near Takao's neighborhood so he's walking me back there. It's getting pretty dark already, the sky a dark blue, not yet black, with a couple stars already visible. Once we get to Momoi's house she waves at us and gives Aomine one quick warning glare before heading inside. Surprisingly, the silence between Aomine and I isn't awkward at all. It's actually pretty comfortable, maybe because neither of us are really paying much attention to the other.

A couple men, somehow already drunk, came around a corner a couple times and Aomine would move slightly closer to me. Both times he put his arm across my back without actually touching me, he would just have his arm hover slightly so he wasn't touching me but his arm was still there and the men could see it. He really just seems like an idiot, but not a terrible person. Maybe if I were to mess with him a little, we could get closer.

"Aomine, you don't love me do you?" I ask in my broken and accented Japanese.

He stopped walking for a split second and then walked just a bit slower. He looked up to the sky casually, maybe trying to interpret what I said, then smiled down at me. Dang it.

" No thanks, shorty. " he started. " I don't like my women with bigger cheeks than tits."

I only understood half of that and I'm offended. No thanks, I think he called me short next... whatever. Let's see, cheeks I think? I think he said boobs? Women? Wait...

*slap*

"Shutup!"

He won.

"My cheeks aren't big!"

"Whatever you say. We're here... is he seriously waiting outside?"

Not understanding what he said, I followed his gaze to the front door of Takao's house and snickered.

There Takao was, standing in the doorway with the front door wide open behind him, waving his entire arm like I wouldn't see him otherwise or something.

He looks weird, I have to get him to stop.

"Kazu..nari-chan... stop that." I say, pulling his arm down and slapping his hand lightly.

He just looked down at me and pouted and then laughed. "You're cute when you're embarrassed."

"Shutup." All I heard was cute but that's enough to annoy me.

I turn to Aomine, who's walking away already without even saying goodbye. Jerk.

"Aomine-chan!" I yell.

He turns and raises an eyebrow at me.

"Good night! Use protection!"

Takao covers his mouth and snorts, not believing I just said that so loud in this neighborhood. I honestly didn't mean to.. I mean I didn't really think about it. Takao brings his arm around me and leads me into the house.

"I like you more and more every day. Let's go to sleep. " he says.


	11. Chapter 11: Kise the Sugar Daddy

Kise is a Sugar Daddy

* * *

Takao has been acting sulky all morning. When I got home last night he was his normal happy self. He teased me a bit and his family asked where I had gone to eat and what I had gotten and if I had liked it. Just normal. He even messed with me before we went to bed. Teasing me about Aomine, asking who annoyed who the most. I told him about how I called Aomine a whore and he laughed so hard he choked and his mom heard from downstairs. Poor lady was probably worried about the foreign kid choking her son. We said goodnight, we went to bed, and then this morning when I came downstairs he was being pissy. I can't explain it well, he isn't exactly being cold, I'm not sure if Takao is capable of being cold towards someone, but he just seems annoyed by me. He was quiet during breakfast, his mom and dad noticing but they seemed as confused as me.

Even in this moment he's just staring at the TV, probably not even paying attention to what's on. Maybe he had a bad dream? I don't know but it's bothering me. I've never seen Takao in an actual bad mood before and so I'm not sure what to do. I like people to leave me alone, and others like people to come comfort them. But I have no idea which Takao is.

I lean over to him cautiously and wait until he notices me.

.

.

.

He's not noticing me.

"Kazu-san" I say.

He blinks once and then looks at me.

"Sasha? What is it?"

Okay he still speaks.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

Takao blinks at me like he's confused, and then smiles.

"Of course I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're being weird."

"Your Japanese is getting good."

"You're changing the subject."

"No I'm not. I said I'm fine."

We sit there staring at each other, waiting for the other to crack. I know something's bothering him. I just know it. I will find out and I will comfort him and I will make him happy again even if it tortures him. I will do it. Jerk. I know! If he wants to act cold, well for Takao, and then pretend nothing's wrong, then I will, too. What now, jerk?

"Takao..." I whine.

Why is he blushing? No, don't blush. That wasn't in the plan I made up 3 seconds ago. When I say it I never actually mean it, but I'm starting to think Takao actually is a jerk.

"What happened to Kazu?" he asks.

"I never called you that." I say.

He looks shocked for a second and then just smiles.

"Sasha~, are you mad because I was ignoring you?"

" I don't understand." I say, crossing my arms in front of my chest stubbornly. Of course I did understand him, I've been studying so much my brain has turned to mush, I can feel it in my head softening up and screaming "please stop it hurts" every time I think about what to say. But I can't say that to him I want him to feel bad and cater to me because I'm angry at him. Wait... why am I angry? Oh yeah he laughed at me! And then acted like me being worried was a joke. Mean. I'm angry.

" Yeah you do." he chuckles.

Crap.

" I don't speak Japanese." I say, this time tearing my poor brain apart by trying to actually not sound fluent. I've been hurting it trying to drill the right accents into it and now I just throw it away to annoy Takao.

The worst part is, it's not even working. He just keeps laughing so light-heartedly. Like nothing ever upset him. And I know something was wrong, there had to be something wrong. He's about to choke again laughing like that. It started out light but now it's getting louder and worse, the more I stare at the wall with my eyebrows furrowed, the funnier he thinks I am apparently.

I sigh, realizing that there's no real point anymore. Wait, maybe there is. Okay, if I ask what's wrong and he denies something being wrong, then he either wants to be alone, or just doesn't trust you, either way, go hang out with Momoi or Kise or something. If he admits he was bothered by something but doesn't want to talk about it, then nod to show him you understand and tell him that you're there when he needs you and when he doesn't. So he knows he can talk if he wants. Okay so I can still do the fake mad thing. I don't why but I really like doing the fake mad thing. It's best when he knows I'm faking it, but he also knows I won't act normally and stop pouting until he fake apologizes. It's become one of our normal things. A few nights ago he was late coming home from school and I ignored him with a small pout and my nose turned up, whining when he talked to me and everything, until he said he would never be late again and fawned over me a little. It's fun.

I sigh again and face the cackling weirdo.

"Kazu-chan." I whine. I'm not good at talking about feelings at all, so I'm gonna have to make this as light as I can while still showing him I'm really worried. That means whining and pouting to me. " You were upset and you have to tell me why." and be blunt. Because I'm not good at working around things smoothly.

He relaxes and leans back into the couch.

"It's nothing I told you." he says.

Now act mad.

I turn away and cross my arms. "Well then I'm gonna go hang out with Kise-chan today." I mumble.

From the corner of my eye I see his face and he looks shocked. I hope I didn't hurt his feelings...

"Actually, " he started "he texted me this morning and said he wanted to take you somewhere today. Just you two. So have fun."

That couldn't be why he was upset, right? I'll pull a Takao and tease him to find out.

"Hey... Kazu-chan." I turn towards him. "You're not jealous are you?"

He jumps a bit and blushes. "No! That's silly Sasha. Why would I be?"

"You know you're the only man for me, right? Kise is just my side ho at most, okay?" I tease. God I'm glad his parents took his sister out because I didn't even think about that. I'm just naturally funny and I have foot-in-mouth disease. Not my fault. I also may have looked up some Japanese slang terms because I just can't communicate like some rich person, okay, I can't do it.

At this Takao busts out laughing.

" In all honesty, I was only acting mad."

Jerk.

" I guess I'll tell him you want to hang out with him. I said no earlier cause I thought you'd want to be here with me and relax." he sighs dramatically and stands from the couch, walking over to the counter where his phone lay. "But I guess if you _want_ to hang out with the model all day then I'll tell him you said yeah."

"Thank you, Kazu." I say simply. I'll yell at him later for answering for me. That was rude. And it gives off the wrong vibe even if he's not like that. For now, let him know that later you'll be more mad. " And did you answer **for me** when he asked? You can't do that! That's rude and a little creepy. And-"

"Relax. I'm sorry. I only said that you were asleep still from studying and that I figured you'd want to relax today. And that maybe he can talk to you tomorrow or something. I didn't exactly say that you said no." he explained.

"Well... you still can't just not tell me."

"I forgot."

"No you didn't! You were annoyed all morning. Like a stupid little boy." I finished with a stomp.

He laughed lightly and mock bowed to me. "I already said I was just acting, I was gonna tell you, and I wish I could apologize more seriously but... you just look so cute when you're mad. Did you know your eyebrows furrow and your hairline changes. And your cheeks are so big, and you pout when you're not even meaning to. It really is a sight."

"... I hate you."

"Where'd you learn that word? It's not nice." he waved his finger at me.

"Whatever." I say. Turning to go upstairs and change, I stop at the bottom of the staircase to throw him one last glare and stick my tongue out at him. Honestly, we're both just big kids aren't we?

* * *

Kise gets here after about 40 minutes and Takao honestly looks like he's a mom sending her daughter off to prom. He's checking out what I'm wearing, making sure it's not too revealing or too weird or something. He's asking if my shoes are comfortable, like I haven't been wearing them since before he met me. Asking if my hair is okay and if I brushed it well because "tangles aren't fun at all, okay, Sasha?". I know that. Last time my hair was tangled a lot it was in Russia and I didn't even have a hair brush. And I couldn't steal one, lousy elf-eyed Russians. Okay I'm Russian too but whatever. Anyway, I ended up finding a knife and just cutting it out, that's how I ended up with short hair. The bangs, I cut in Korea because I thought it'd look cute. And it did. It still does. I have a big forehead and I look great with bangs.

"Just be careful, okay? And don't let him flirt with you too much. You give guys the wrong idea with how naturally cute and flirty you are." Takao says, bringing me out of my thoughts. Hey...

"I'm not flirty... you're flirty." I mumble as I walk out the door.

Kise laughs when he sees the obvious blush spread across my cheeks from Takao's behavior. He's making this seem like a date. Idiot.

" You're so cute! I love that color on you!" Kise says excitedly as we begin out walk.

" It's just dark blue." I say. Isn't that cute on like everyone?

" Ah~ but Sasha-chii, those are my school colors. You didn't know? And here I was thinking you wanted to impress me." Kise pouts.

"Your what colors?" I only understood a bit of that, and he talks so fast I'm just gonna ignore the last part, whatever it was.

"School." He looks at me like he's confused and then looks as if something just dawned on him. Wait, did he forget I hardly speak Japanese? That's honestly kinda adorable. His reactions are funny.

Kise rubs the back of his head and smiles at me. "Sorry, I forgot." This time when he speaks he makes sure to do so slowly and pronounce everything well. It probably looks like he's talking to a baby to the rest of the world. He smiles again, once again excited and joyful, and pulls out his phone. Ugh, I'm really getting tired of having to talk through a phone. It's kind of embarrassing... but Japanese is hard. At least I didn't go to China.

Kise surprises me though when instead of the typical translator app that I'm so used to seeing these days, it's even in my dreams at this point, just glaring at me, it's a picture. A picture of him and some dark haired guy who's not really paying attention in basketball jerseys. OH. Aww.

" You look good. " I said. I didn't know what else to say and that only makes me more embarrassed, causing that annoying blush to spread across my face yet again. I need anxiety pills. Maybe that would help.

Kise laughs and pinches my shirt to try and get his point across. I probably should have told him I got what he meant...

"I get it oppa." I say.

Kise laughs again and stops to mess with my cheeks.

" You're so adorable when you slip into Korean." he coos.

Wait what? I did? Do I do that often?

"When did I.. speak Korean." I ask. I hate it when I forget basic verbs.

" You do often. It's cute. You call Momoi unnie and us oppa sometimes. And sometimes you actually speak it. But I modeled for Korean stuff before so I understand most of it. You never say anything complicated, it's always the simple but common things like "what?" and "seriously?" and things like that." Kise explained.

"Oops." I mumble, not knowing what else to say.

He laughs upon seeing the embarrassed look on my face and moves a bit closer to me.

"You blush a lot." he smirks.

Pointing it out will definitely help, Kise.

"Okay.." I say. Not helping at all.

"It's normally cute on a girl, but you look like you're about to pass out."

 _Not helping._

" Then stop mentioning it." I mutter.

He looks surprised for a second and then just chuckles at my bluntness.

"Kise, why did you want to be with me today?" I ask. I do wonder why he wanted just us to hang out like this. I wonder where we're going.

"I'm taking you shopping of course." he answers. "And you can call me by my given name, strangers do it all the time."

"Shopping?"

"We're buying you things." he clarifies.

Oh, I knew I should know that one. I was studying that with others last night. I really should work on my study skills.

"Why?" I inquire. It's not like I really need anything. I have a few outfits in clothes. I have sweatpants and shorts and leggings. And I have 3 different T-shirts, too. Even if I had more stuff, this is still all I'd wear, so there's no point. And I don't need anything else. Takao and I share a brush, he bought me a toothbrush the first night I stayed at his house. I guess a phone of my own would be useful but Kise isn't about to buy me a phone so I don't know what he wants to get me.

" You don't have enough stuff." he answers simply, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

" I have enough." I argue.

" No, you're gonna be here a while, right? You'll need your own phone, more clothes, _at least_ 2 dresses, more shoes. You only have that one pair. Night clothes. Underwear and socks, too. Makeup, a hair cut, we'll get your nails done. Stuff like that, it'll be fun." he lists.

Okay so maybe he would buy me a phone... Why would I need a dress, let alone two.. no he said at least two, that means he's getting me 12. One more pair of shoes, maybe boots, would be okay but I don't think that's what he has in mind. Night clothes I don't need, I have underwear, don't need socks my feet never even stink, as odd as that is.

"I don't really need half of that Ryouta?" I start. Sorry brain, you're going through a lot right now. " I sleep in my leggings and shorts, I don't need night clothes. My hair is fine. I don't go anywhere to wear make up, I don't need any dresses. I don't even like dresses that much. I have enough, really." I try to reason with him.

He's not having it, though. He just keeps smiling and walking like he didn't even hear me. I'm gonna have to meet him in the middle somehow.

"Ryouta, let's go eat somewhere first." I suggest.

He thinks for a second and nods his head, pointing ahead. "We'll go to that little fast food place. They've got good milkshakes, Kurokochii loves the vanilla ones, do you like milkshakes, Sasha?"

He's talking fast again. I know he asked a question at least.

"Maybe." I answer. Not knowing if I would answer with a yes or no to the question, if I had understood it.

" We'll find out soon!" he yells excitedly.

* * *

Milkshakes. He asked if I liked milkshakes. I kinda don't actually... they're not bad or gross, they're just not my thing. But since he is paying, again, I should just go with is. I like strawberry flavored stuff, so I'll just get one of those.

" What flavor do you want, Sasha?" he asks with his normal friendly smile.

I forgot the word for strawberry... How do I explain it? Oh!

"Pink one."

Kise smiles and nods, going to the counter to order my strawberry milkshake, leaving me alone. By myself. Three feet away from him but still alone. Some girls outside have been staring in here since they saw us come in. It's kinda weird. I know Kise models, so he's probably used to it. But I've seen those crazed comments on websites that fan girls make and I'm sorry to both Kise and God but if one of those kids lays one hand on me, street Sasha will come out and I will tear her up. That may sound harsh but girls are different than boys. Girls are vicious.

But luckily they aren't giving me any glares. That's cool. Hopefully they're some of the fans that realize that their idols are people and deserve space and respect and have private lives. Not that I'm a part of Kise's private life I just... I mean it probably looks that way is all I'm saying. We're not dating. Oh God I'm so awkward even in my own head. I judge myself.

"Here you go." Kise brings me from my thoughts when he soft voice is heard.

"Oh, thank you." I say with a slight head tilt.

As I look back over to the window where the three girls are, Kise follows my line of sight and laughs.

"Don't worry about that, they won't follow us or anything. They probably just want a picture or something. I'm pretty popular these days." he assures me.

We walk outside and the three girls shyly walk up to Kise and I. Well Kise. It was kind of cute actually, the way they blushed the second he turned and looked at them. Maybe they'd feel more comfortable if...

I lean over so they can see me from behind Kise and I wave at them, putting on my best friendly face. Not my real one though, that's disturbing, just a slight smile and a little wave.

The girls saw me and straightened up, hosting terrified looks on their faces, they looked between me and Kise. Oops.

"Ryouta-kun. Is this your girlfriend?" one asks.

"She's really pretty." another says.

Kise shakes his head and chuckles at my blushing face.

"No, she's just a friend. But wouldn't we be cute together?" Kise says.

No we wouldn't be. Stop that Kise.

"Ryouta, don't be embarrassing." I whine.

"How mean. " he pouts at me and then turns back to the girls. "Don't worry, she's just shy! What would you ladies like from me?"

After a few minutes of him talking to them, signing magazines for them, and taking pictures with them, he turns back to me and grabs my wrist gently. Waving goodbye to the three girls he walks the other way with me right behind him.

" Thank you for being my fan! I have to take my Sasha shopping now! " he exclaims.

I waved to the girls as we walked away from them and tried to hide my face from them while they went on about how lucky I was to be taken shopping by Kise Ryouta. Eh. I guess. But he's gonna annoy me with how much he wants to buy me so they can have him.

* * *

This is horrible. He keeps asking what I like and I can't answer him because I don't know what I like. Plus, this may be annoying or even stupid to complain about but, I'm not thin. At all. I'm nothing but muscle and if he keeps trying to get me into short skirts that will only remind me and everyone else that my legs are thick as hell, I'm gonna beat him with a shoe. I'm not sure how to explain this to him, though. He asks me what my style is and I don't know that either. Some things that would be classified as girly are cute to me and some aren't. Some things that are goth and even lolita look pretty to me, but not all of anything. And there are so many other girls around. Cute Japanese girls. In high school. Pretty, thin, dainty, charming, Japanese girls. In the process of getting their educations. Normal, pretty, girls that only blush across their cheeks a little. The perfect amount to make them look shy and pretty and cute. Not like me, I look like a tomato beat me up when I blush. But I'm not shy. I honestly think I have anxiety, and social anxiety at that. I looked up the symptoms and I know it'd be dumb to self-diagnose, but I honestly relate so much to everything people say about social anxiety. Those little posts on the internet that people make about what it's like, I relate to those on some type of spiritual level. But I don't want to say anything because it'd be really embarrassing and stupid of me if I ended up not having it. Everyone just thinking I'm over-dramatic, or one of those people that... you know... do the thing. Hypochondriac? Is that it? It's a word that sounds like that if that's not it and I'm not one.

I sigh as Kise holds up yet another short and frilly dress.

"What about this one?" he asks. He's trying so hard, I feel bad that I don't really like anything.

I slowly shake my head 'no', making sure to see if anyone is looking at us while we shop. Of course people are. Only a few though. There are only 2 little groups in this store. One girl with her mom, and one with a few friends. The girl and her friends are the ones looking. The other one either hasn't noticed us or doesn't care. I like that one. I can feel my face continue to heat up with every pair of eyes I feel on me. I probably look stupid with Kise right now. I wonder what they're thinking. Nevermind, I don't want to know. Wait, yes I do. No. Yes? I just want to leave. Maybe come back when no one is here. Or shop online.

"Ryouta, can we go somewhere else?" I ask.

He looks curious as to why I don't want to be here but shrugs and takes me to a different store.

I meant go to a different spot in the store where no one could see us but this works, too. I guess.

" You haven't been speaking at all. Not even to say 'yes' or 'no'. Are you okay? " Kise asks.

Ever the observant one.

"I don't like people." I answer simply.

" But you like us? And you're great with new people! "

" I have little bouts of confidence and bravery when I'm comfortable. Not when I'm feeling judged. I don't really like shopping. I'm sorry this isn't as fun as you wanted it to be. " I say.

" What do you mean? It is fun! I know! We'll find a store without anyone in it. Or at least with not many people. For now, we should figure out what your style is. "

I don't have a style! This is so frustrating. I can't yell at him, not even in a joking way, there are people here. I didn't care much when I called Aomine a whore. Well I did after I realized what I said.

" Ryouta... can we..." what's the term for window shopping here? Dang it. " just look but not go in? And only go in when I see something I like? "

"That's a great idea! And then I can figure out your style that way, since you don't seem to know what it is exactly." Kise exclaims.

Oh thank God he's okay with that.

* * *

A couple hours later and we actually got almost everything he wanted to get me. Shoes, clothes (including two dresses), underwear and socks. A hair brush of my own. Very cute one, too. We decided a haircut wasn't good for me since I hate talking to people about things. I convinced him not to buy me any makeup save fore some BB cream and mascara. He said my eyelashes are really pretty and it'd be a shame to not groom them. Now he still wanted to get me :

1\. Bed sheets

and 2. a cell phone.

We also got some cute couple things because I mentioned people doing that a lot in Korea. So we now have matching T-shirts, matching rings, matching ear rings, turns out we both have the same spot on our ears pierced, matching animal socks, etc. Just random stuff really. All in cute pastel colors. It's actually been a pretty nice day. I also convinced him to get me some 2 inch lifts for my shoes. It's hard to be only slightly above average height when you're surrounded by tree men.

Now we're working on getting me a phone. I have no idea what's going on but he's doing all the important stuff. He stops to ask me what kind of phone I think is cutest and I just said whichever one has the most memory. He said that has nothing to do with the way it looks so I just told him to pick one for me.

"The white ones are cute, I guess. " I shrugged.

He looks at me and waves his hand in front of my face.

"We're finished. Here you go!" he hands me a cell phone excitedly.

It is pretty. And shiny. But that's obvious. It's mostly just weird to have something like this of my own. The last phone I had was technically stolen but whatever that's not important, it's broken and gone now.

"Thank you, Ryouta." I whimper. I swear if I cry right here in public, even though no one else is really around, I will scream. In my head.

I'm gonna cry. He's just so nice.

"How much money do I owe you at this point?" I ask, only half-joking.

"You know you don't owe me anything. Consider this a birthday present. " he says.

"My birthday is near yours, Ryouta."

"Late birthday present? It's gonna be winter soon and I remember you saying you didn't like the cold. So we should get you some winter stuff next time."

" Next time?" I ask.

"Of course! We're going shopping again, right?" he

"I guess... are you sure? Spending this much money on me.."

" Don't worry about it. Surprisingly, I don't actually spend my modeling money often. I have a lot saved up just because I have nothing to spend it on. So how about we go shopping every time I get paid from now on?"

"No that's a bad idea." I state. "Save your money oppa... Ryouta."

He chuckles and rubs his head. "Alright, do you wanna go back to Takao's now? Or we could see a movie and then go back?" he suggests.

A movie actually doesn't sound that bad. Wait, yeah it does.

"Ryouta... thank you very much, but unless movie theaters have sub-titles now, I shouldn't go to a movie." I explain.

He contemplates something for a while while we walk.

"How about we go to my house? I have DVDs and they have Korean subtitles." he asks.

I think for a second and look over at him. "That actually sounds nice, Ryouta. Can we?"


End file.
